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ADDHESSED  TO  THE 

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BT   A 


QTS  THE  SUBJECT  O: 


AND  IMPROPER  DI8BUK8EMENT8 


IT  THE 


PUBLIC  MONE         c. 


ORIGINALLY  PUBLISHED   'JT  TB» 

.TIP/ITS  /f^  5SF 
* 


PART  FJSHT, 


»  »MC/«  the  plunder  of  a  land  isgiw* 
When  public  crimes  inflame  the  wrat*-  oj  Heaven." 


BALTIMORE  : 

PRINTED  AND  PUBLISHED  BY  FREDK,  &  &  JHAEFFER, 


. 

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. 

>.,  on  the  subject  of  i 

T;7;kVtS« 

^%;Kur 


lican.    Pait 


District  of  Maryland 


TO  THE 

P  E  O  P  L  E 


OF  THE 


NO.  T. 

It  is  my  purpose  to  address  you  on  a  subject  of  which  you,  as  yet 
irtle  or  nothing,  but  •:  .-aceming  which  you  are  much  r^>.v^H— 
I  aly'de  to  the  great  amount  of  money  due  from  individual  \Q  pub- 

lic.— I  am  induced  to  this  tas'\  principally,  from  a   para^  ,.p  » 
long  since  appeared  in  the  Natic:      intelligencer-  -a  v 
is  well  knoy.ii  asunder  the  entire  guiu,  .ice  ind  d?  "<isi- 

<k'iit%id  the.jgyicipal  executive  ofikers  of  the  gener;      •>•  •  Hi^. 

para£»'aph  fl^Bich  I  allude  is  in  iht^e  words — "It  i  J   mer. 

who  kno;v  better  should  attempt  to  impose  on  the  people  of  Maryland  tr  » 
absurdity  iliat  th^ue  balances  [meaning  the  balances  rcpi'i'  '  +c  "  -igi    >? 
last  siSSJua ]  represent  monies  actual^ -:1  i\e  to  the  gov.        .    r  by  de 
faultors,  instead  of  being,  what  they  •••^ 'y   are,  unsettled    .r  .  cxparte 
accounts." 

Had  ^  statement  like  this  conic  /rou,  any  otUe.  quarter,  I  might 
lot  pernr.p  ,  nive  deemed  it  worthy  of  notice — knowing,  as  T  do$  the 
iiii^  .  .y  i  ., .  .is  tcj  tften  resorted  toby  different  politic? t  sects  to  re- 
tain, or  get  into,  power.  But  when  I  see  the  executive  uv.lhority  of  this 


nation,  by  its  organ,  attempting  to  impose  a  most  shameful  and  wicked 
falsehood  upon  the  people,  I  can  no  longer  be  silent.     I  have  the  docu- 


public  treasure,  seldom  equalled,  and  never  surpassed  in  the  most 
corrupt  gove rn merits  of  the  old  world. — When  indeed,   such  pains  are 
taken  by  our  executive  rulers  to  conceal  from  ihe  view  of  the  people  the 
•)f  the  fiscal  concerns  of  the  nation,  and  to  screen  individual 
1'avorl  .tin  to  v.hicli  party  they  profess  to  belong]    from   that 

;o  attach  to  every  man  who  would  wilfully  and  wick- 
t •«!!_    vi  ,'ic  tiust, — \\e  must  conclude,  we  cannot   help  con- 

-iilers  do,  in  some  way  or  other,  actually  participate 
Iran: Is. — This  I  say,  from  no    party  views    whatever.     I 

Ail  1  \\ish  to  see,  in  this  respect,  is,  honest,  faithtul  and  indigent 

o  govern  us — really  acting  [not  merely  profesj.-  c'  ii;  con- 

{'i>niiit.y  to  the  trae  principles  of  our  republican  govtrnmer        ±h  v.s  were 

ractteed  during  the  admiuigtrat'on  of  general  Washing     :.     \  ntver 


383306 


have,  nor  -.;!  t  give  ,.^  :  .  ri  ile<i"y  as  an  American  citizen,  to  speak 
freely  anc  frankly  of  tho&e  vho  havv-  i  direct  agency  in  conducting  the 
affairs  of  the  nation.  In  «lo'ng  chit,  ho\vever,  I  shall  certainly  abstain 
*rom  using  harsh  or  abusive  epithetSc  I  shall  confine  my  remarks  prin- 
cipally tnfttcii  and  the  obvious  consequences  growing  out  of  them.  I 
ehall  make  no  charge  against  any  one  which  I  will  not.  prove,  so  far  as 
the  '  l  lie  documents  and  records  will  be  admitted  as  proof. 

To     y  great  astonishment  and  regret,    the  people  of  this   country 

suffered  years  d  years  to  pass  away,  without  making  the  least 
inquiry  about  public  defaulters.  Thissupineness  has  been  ov\in£  to  the 
£,-  at  and  sudden  influx  of  public  moLey,  arising  from  the  duties  on  for- 
~ign  imp^r  d  goods,  and  the  conse-qiient  ability  of  the  government  to 
.,  °t.  :Mid  more  than  meet,  all  its  engagements,  without  resorting  to  any 
.thcr  mode  of  taxation.  Our  rulers,  from  the  president  down,  rook  ad- 
.c  itage  of  this  state  of  things,  and  have  been  constantly  Bulling  the 
^)t?p!e  with  the  false  and  fallacious  assertions,  that  they  were  not  only 

•     '.s  and  happy  beyond  former  example,  but  also  free  from  pnb- 
«ic  burci Ins.     .  esident's  last 'inaugural  speech.     JRiit,  as  every 

/eftc;  <  it  lias  co"»)?,  to  pass,  that  this  source  of  rev; 

n  order  to  mee':,  even  current  eypen^es.   (for  the 
'y  hi-en  violated,  as  shall  be   pr^~ 

in  not,  providing  t.he  requisite  aii^iriit  Tor  the  sinking  f\MJL^fl^>^i;<>b!i^- 
.  od  to  i'esort  t'        :>•*  w  time  ofprofound  peacr.     ']  i 
alar'    ;  anf'     ..      .  f  reflection,  \vhc  have  no  more  to  do  v.-ith   the  ^overn- 
,nent .  „.),  .\    o  tit-   \-JL\\?   i  -4  pay  their  taxes,  begin  to  sec- 

^  ise^t^':    „    ^     r   .iil  i    /' -i '     Hiblic  treasury.     Hence,  for  the   lirst. 
time,  I  belie vj,  has    i-efi  pu^ntTed   in   the   newspapers   of  tl- 
year,  some  remarks  on  the  choruiou«r  balances  against  individuals, 
books  of  ike  third  ^dditor  of  tne  treasury.     But  why  not  hi  ^^  lias  eve- 
been  said  respecting  the  balances  due  to  the  U^Stntes  on  the  books  of  t^.-. 
fourth  auditor,  and  also  on  those  denominated  "Books  of  Roceij-ii- 
Expenditures,"  I  am  totally  at  a  loss  to  conceive.     1  have  in  my  po 
sion,  the  list  of  defaulters  on  thes»p,  and  in  my  next,  s!--nli  t^i\e   so1.1: 
tracts  from  them,     I  will  also  make  some  ivinarks  on  the  letter  a  n<; 
munication  of  tlujf^trrf  auditor,  which  accompnmed  h-is  repoit '<»{'  • 
quentt,,.     In  the  end,  I  think  I  shall  be  able  conchixiveiv  to  sho\r, — U^^ 
if  the  public  money  had   not  been  most    shamefully  and   scanday^B 
squandered,  we  'ieed  not,  for  some  years  to  come,  even   undo:-  our  pre- 
sent bad  systeir  of  getting  revenue,  have  bec-;i  obi'::.;ed   f)   report  to  t!:o 
miserable  and  disgraceful  sliil't  of  borrowing  money,  to  p.:iy  thr 
expenses  of  government. 

A  Native  of  Yir^i 


.,,rt  history  of  tite.  aci  c-f  .ingress  <.,  liio  kl  March  1809,  by 
i  the  comptroller  of  the  treasury  is  required  tr>  r<  ]ay  ar,  annual 
Statement  before  conj;r«  -  .'/')•.';?£•  the  first  -week  of  tha'r  ?c'.ssiow,  of 
the  accounts  which  ma"'  inve  remain  -d  more  than  three  years  unsettled, 
or  OH  which  balances  appear  to  have  Seen  due  more  than  thrcv  years, 
prior  to  the  50th  Sept.  preceding,"  may,  perhaps,  not  be  unacceptable 
to  you.  it  was  on  tiiat  ti  larch  1809]  that  JVf".  ,Te'V;.  .-ori's  s 

term  of  oflict*,  as  president,  expired.  He  was,  no  doubt-  rnv:  t:. 
leave  some  evidence  of  his  ;rea/  for  the  public  interest  ;  and  he  probably 
thought  there  could  be  no  better  vvay  of  doing  this,  than  by  procuring 
a  lav.  to  be  passed,  exhibit  ing  to  the  public  view  a  list  of  the  puHic  c-e- 
f-iiilters,  and  also  of  earning  into  effect  a  favorite  princip!  •  o^  ° 
publicans  of  the  0W  school—  namely,  that  "  rhe  um«  afproprj^tet'  by 
for  each  branch  of  rxj-ejuiitin*  in  the  ^hould 

olely applied  to-tye  object?*  iur  vn.ich  ll.ey  \'  appro- 

her"     Accoriliagly  Mr.  G  iry  of 

a  draitof  thf  ttfore.said  act  of  tl>.€    °>d   Marc'i,   1809. 
.:ice«l,  I  tliii-k,  into   tlie   house  of  ntatives   by  the 

chairman  of  the  conunittee  of  ways  and  ircas.-      n-.  sed  tl"it  br  ly; 
•  as  so  amended  in  the  senate  at      <\    siu«westi«-         -  *   '.    e   alw.ys 
understood]  of  general  Samuel  S>  'iose  bro^;e  '  -^ « '  eit,  th'?  '1-e.n 

••laryof  the  navv,  W.MS  deculedr^  -istUe  i  iples,  in  regard 

fecific  appropriat-ions "i  as  t<»  render  the  clause  in   the  act,  as  it   re- 
(1  the  specific  applitalic:.  cf    ach  oum  appropriated,  :\  perfect  nul- 
.':*\.     There  are  other  provisions  in  this  law  for  insuring  a  due  account- 
y  of  '!;e  public  money,  such  as  requiring  those  intrusted  with  its 
Ushursf.wnt,  to  keep  it  in  some  incorporated  bank,  &,  to  render  month- 
v  reUiins,  tVr.  of  their    payments.     It   lias,  doubtless,  been   from  the 
culpable  lie  mildest  term  that  can  with  any  propriety  be  appli- 

ed to  the  case  ;  of  him  whose  dut.y  it  is  "  to  see  Hint  th  '  lawn  are  faith- 
J'iiHyp'Wcutt'd-i"  that,  sut-h  vast  sums  of  money    have  been  lost   to  the 
jbmir. unity,     i'a^s  AS  hut  laws  you  will,  be  tbey  ever  .-:»»  salutary,  unless 
fv'.iihfiillv  cxeci.'ed,"  they  become  as  a  dead  letter,  worse  than 
-. — To  be   plain;  it    is  the  PKKSIUEXT  OF  TT.,  UN'ITED   STATES 
..•blame  lbi-  tha  dilapidations  recently  made  on  the 
o;'.-.ury. 

v.>>rd  or  tv.o  as  to  the  manju'rin  which  the  third  auditor  has  com- 

(I  to  tb.e  comptroller  the.  list  of  delinquent* on  his  books.     He, 

Miditor.  is,  1  understand,  very  much  censured  by  some  ofthe 

ic  party,  for  the  way  in  which  he  makes  his  communication  on 

Hpct>  as  giving  too  much  importance  to  it.     Verily,  I  am  quite  of 

iiiion.     1  think  his  report  rather  calculated  to  screen  some 

fatmers  at  least.     I  will,  for  the  present,  mention  a  single  in- 

.-lanceonly  of  this  kind.     The  case  of  the  late    .Mr.  Brent,  paymaster 

general,  residing  at  the.    seat^rf  tff  general    •'-,,..  ..:«;<•  .i,  is    thus  put 

down  by  Mr.^Hagner,  on  his  list.     "Robert    I  general, 

i 0.9 11  dollars  Itt  cents — balance  on  sMe-..  ,orted 

.-/tV.»»    Now  if  Mr»Hagiier  dktnot  kao.w  of   in^ 


brought  against  Mr.  Brent,  this  is  all  vetj  we!!.  But  will  he  say  that, 
at  the  time  he  made  his  repon.  he  k »:;•-•.«/•  i  f  no  further  debts  to  be  brought 
to  the  account  of  that  officer.  I  have  lately  learned,  from  good  autho- 
rity, that  the  deficiency  in  this  case  is  usually  above  one  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  uolLrs,  r; -s.1  moreover,  t'nat  the  official  bond  of  the  late 
incumbent  was  tiot  i,cb,  found!  IVir  not  from  any  invidious  motive 
that  I  aave  sele.-.ted  L-;3  pa.  .:cular  case — far  from  it — I  do  it  for  the  pur- 
pose of  i$h(>»pin^you  how  your  affairs  are  managed,  even  at  the  seat  of 
government,  directly  under  the  eye  of  the  •president,  whose  duty  it  is  to 
see  ihifttite  laws  aix, '»  faithfully  executed.''  It  is  said  to.,  'liat  this 
will  b-.  ..total  loss  or  nearly  s,o  to  the  public,  the  delinquent  being  dead, 
tmlno  administration  on  his  estate.  And  yet,  in  tlie  face  of  t!as,  and  a 
hui.tued  times  as  much  more — we  are  taid  by  our  rulers,  tlm  ?;h  their 
jrgun,  tlu,  National  Intelligencer,  that  "  it  is  a  shame  to  impose  -».)  the 
people  the  absurdity  that  these  balance*  represent  money  actually  CM.1." 
That  some  of  these  are  unsettled  accounts,  nobody  ever  denied  :  but 
there  is  no  qualification  in  the  runLvk  made  by  the  editors  of  the  Intel- 
L.'ger.ccr — they  attempt  to  " impose  the  absurdity,"  that  they  are  all 
"  insettled  balances,  and  exparte  account!-  !" 

«I  will  PR   ra<V    i4  LV  one  other  item  in  the  report  of  the  third  audi- 
i/r,  whic'vthough   v     larger  in  amount,  is,  "nevertheless,  great  in  point 


cf  euc.  mity,  and  mu/  serve  as  a  ramble  of  the  proceedings  of  the  execu- 
tive officers  of  this  government.     Umi.?i  the   proper  head,  ii, 
auditor's  list,yo     viil  find  the  following  entry  :  "  Charles  Gobert,  con 
n,  ~  850  d    !ai>;  advanced  on  account  of  ordnance — it   being  01 
nt  v)f  iijc  co,       c.  for  the,"'  ':'  !i  facture  of  musket  balls."     A  paral- 
this  case,  in  point  of  pi  ,  not,  1  believe,  tc  be  found  in  the 

s  of  this  cou:i:i  y.     I  willr        you  fhe  following:  brief  account   -f  it 


,yo:,    via  find  the  iollowing  entry 

tractoi,  ?.  850  d    u«>  advanced  on  account  of  ordnance — it   being  01 
account  of  his  co. 
lei  to 
annals  of 

and  if  any  thing  which  I  state  be  wrong,  if  can  be  corrected  by  referer>  w 
to  the  facts  ut  the  proper  office. 

Charles  Gobert,  is  a  Frenchman  of  specious  manners,  but  or  n 
riously  infamous  character.     When  Mr.  Monroe,  the  present 
was  acting  secretary  of  war,  he  made  a  contract  with   this    Cobert 


Jj 
taW 


by  order  of  Mr.  Monroe,  to  Gobert,  who  put  it   into  his    pockei. 
perhaps,  never  thought  of  the  musket  balls  afterwards  ;  certain  it  is, 
delivered  none  to  +\v  war  department.     It  is  true,  the  formality  of 
ing  security  for  ti  •    public  money  advanced  to   Gobert   was  compile  ! 
with;  I  s&y  formality,  because  the  bond  was  taken  -in  such  a  icay,  tiiat. 
the  security  [a  person  ot  the  name  of  Ogden,  in  New  York]  is  det  i. 
not  to  be  liable  for  the  money,  at  least  so  says  the  IT.  S.  district   m 
ney.     You  will  not,  perhaps,  be  so  much  surprised  at  this  strange 
unjustifiable  advance  of  the  public  money,  when  you  arc  informed,  tha«. 
this  unprincipled  Frenchman  had  married  a  relation  of  the  wife/  of  Mr. 
Monroe.    This  is  the  same  Gobert,  who  was  afterwards  detected  in  a 
treasonable  intercourse  with  admiral  Cockburn,  was  arraignetFfor  high 
treason,  but,  by  some  means,  made  his  escape.     In  my  next  communica- 
tion I  will  advert  ':?  *r  me  other  cases  of  delinquency;  particularly  to  some 
in  the  books  "/the  fcurih  -luditoij  ar,J  to  others  on  the  books  of  "Re- 
ceipts  jiiid  Expenditure?-."  which  will  enable  you  to  determine  whether 
iot  high  ti-.iii  foi"  aii  to  irousefro-T;  your  apathy,  and  betake  your- 


•* 


stives  to  thinJdng  a  UUl*  before  it  is  too  late.  If  you  do  no;,,  ere  long, 
« correct  the  procedure/ in  regmS  i<  the  general  administration  of  your 
affairs,  you  may,  depend  upon  i:,  bid  a  long  farewell  to  liberty  and  to 
happiness. 

A 


>'o.  TTI. 

The  remarks  of  the  present  number  will  bt  principally  confined  fc 
ihe  balances  due  from  individuals  to  the  T  ites,    and  "Standing 

on  the  books  of  the  fourth  auditor  of  the  treasury    ..jne  of  which  balan- 
i^  yet,  T  believe,  been  exposed  to  public  firvv  except  in  the  of- 
rcports   made  to   congress  from  the  treasui  v   department.     The 
amount  on  this  list  is,  I  think,  about  TWO  MILLIONS  o     DOLLARS;  and,  I 
am  sorry  to  add,  the  greater  part  of  r''.e  money  will  D,  lost  to  tic  public. 
To  enable  you  to  judge  of  tl"k  '/iirneful  an       jlpable  manner  in 
which  this  money  has  been  disbui V*'\y  om  the  public  ueasury  at  Wash- 
ington, 1  will  make  a  few  extract  one  of  ,.'ne«e  reports;  and  then, 
after  a  few  comments,  leave  e*'ery  reflecting  hoiie&t  man  in  the  country 
to  c'eteraiine  for  himself,  whether  the  persons  who  are  entrusted  with 
tne  management  of  our  public  concerns  deserve  the  respect  or  the  con- 
mi  erice  of  the  people. 

la  the  "abstract  of  balances  remaining  oa  die  books  of  the  fourth 
auditor,"  will  be  found  the  following  entry: 

"  Theodorick  Armistead,  242/J81  dollars,  46  cents,  formerly  navy 
gent,  deceased,  Norfolk,  Va."  This  is,  as  it  appears,  a  finally  settled 
account:  aid  I  understand  that  the  delinquent  is  dead  and  insolvent. 
[Nor  does  it  appear  frota  the  official  report  that  any  security  was  taken, 
of  course  this  is  a  total  loss  to  the  public.  It  ma*  V  proper  to  add,  that 
all  navy  agents  are  required,  by  the  standing  ru^.  of  the  department,  to 
render  monthly  returns  to  the  proper  accounting  officer  at  Washington, 
of  their  receipts  and  disbursements  during  each  month.  How  then,  it 
will  be  asked,  can  there  possibly  happen  such  an  immense  deficiency  as 
e  stated  r  I  answer — because  the  laws  arewof  *'  faithfully  execut- 
ed ;"  because  the  laws,  and  ancient  wholesome  regulations,  are  made  to 
give  way  to  political  expediency ;  thus  sacrificing  the  public  interest  to- 
promote  the  unlawful  views  of  party.  But  in  doing  this  the  executive 
not  only  acts  with  injustice  to  the  community — ii;  is  a  culpable  abandon- 
ment of  his  own  duty,  asenjoine  '  upon  him  by  the  constitution,  and  a 
violation  of  his  oath. 

The  next  case  to  which  i  will  call  jcur  attenvi      .=  entered  on  the 
official  abstract  above  referred  to,  thua  s 

"John  CnaDbjEJZ&O*;  dollars  37  ceiit»,  p-y....i.  _r,  !>  .0,  Tishing- 
ton  city — [remark}^-he  has- rendered  acucjp/^  v  .   i.nuu,!«.    ..    163,08? 


dollars  69  cents,  but  they  cannot  be  adjusted  as  the  pay-rolls  have  net 
been  certified  by  the  inspector  of  the  marine  corps."  'Here  then,  ad- 
mitting the  entire  credit  which  the  pay-maste''  claims,  a  clear  balance 
appears  against  him  or  i-pwardsof  half  c  million  of  dollars!  The  fourth 
audito^  has  not  state/  tr.  congress  \vh;il  security  tht  public  has  for  this 
enormous  debt ;  o-  has  lu>  even  condescended'  to  say  what  prospects 
there  ,^re  of  a  recovery  of  any  part  of  it  from  £he  principal.  The  truth, 
however,  i$?  that  the  money  will  not,  cannot  be  recovered  ;  because  the 
debtor  is  notable  to  pay  it;  nor  do  I  believe  that  any  measures  what- 
ever have  been  resorted  to,  to  enforce  payment. 

In  referring  to  an  estimate,  made  to  congress,  in  order  io  obtain  an 
appropriation  for  the  expense  of  pay  for  the  whole  of  the  marine  corps, 
for  the  year  1820,  [and  it  is  believed  the  estimate   is  nearly  the   same 
every  year,]  I  find  the  total  amount  of  that  object  to  be  95.760  dollars  : 
so  that  it  would  appear  from  th".  official    report  rendered  to  congres? 
that  the  paymaster  of  this   co.ps    has   Lccn   permitted  to  retain  in  hi 
hands,  [arid  which  appears  to  be  now  an  actual  balance  against  him]  the 
sum  of  508,951  dollars  68  cents  !     This,  mind  ye,  fel'ow  citizens  was 
an  advance  of  money  at  the  seat .  °  the  general  govc  -merit,  directly  in 
view  of  the  president  whose  duty  it  is,  -by  the    cc  stitutiop,  "  to  take 
care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed."'     I  d  "  not  mean  to 
the  president  is,  oroughtto  be,  responsible  for  ^he  misconduci 
inferior  executive  officers  of  government ;  but  this  much  I  will  say,  that 
he  is  bound  to  dismiss  from  the  public  ser\  '.ce  every  such  officer  as  shall 
n?t  do  his  duty.     He  is  moreov  ,,    ound   to  give  information   to  con- 
gress "of  the  state  of  the  union    *    ,i  recommend  to  theii  consideration 
such  measures  as  he  shall  jud;  e  'ary  and  expedient."     The  presi- 

dent has  given  to  congress  no  direct  "information"  whatever  reriti  e 
to  public  defaulters.  All  the  information  that  congress  have  i  T.~  :  A- 
municated  to  them  on  that  most  important  subject,  i?  whs"  *he  members 
maybe  enabled  t^  glean  from  the  vague  and  unsatisfactory  documents 
rendered  under  the  law  of  the  3d  March,  1809.  Mr.  Monroe  never  has 
in  a  single  instance,  that  I  can  recollect,  in  making  his  communications 
to  congress,  adverted  to  the  shameful  and  scandalous  misapplicat:on  of 


ment,  we  are  told  *:'  »ur  "  extraordinary  prosperity."  It  is  iaot  for  me 
to  say  how  long  tht  people  will  permit  themselves  to  be  thus  gulled  and 
flattered. 

The  next  item  in  the  official  abstract  to  which  I  shall  refer,  stands 
-thus  : 

"Eckfordand  Brown,  contractors,  New  York  480,000  dollars— no 
accounts  rendered."  This  is  all  the  information  the  department  has 
condescended  to  give  to  the  representatives  of  the  people  on  this  sub- 
ject. It  is  not  even  stated  what  Eckford  and  Brown  contracted  to  do ; 
all  the  information  we  have  about  it  is,  that  they,  some  years  ago,  got 
fuur  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars  of  the  people's  money,  and 
that,  as  yet,  «•  no  account  is  rendered"  of  its  application  !  What  will, 
what  can  our  public  ^uiuiiftiiaries  say  to  this  ?  What  will  the  people 
of  this  country  say  tc  it  * 

I  shall  continue  the  extracts  from  the/ourtfi  auditor's  report  in  my 
next  communication 

A  Native  of  Wginia. 


NO.  IV 

You  will,  I  think,  have  perceived,  from  vh.it  I  have  already  sta. 
*d  and  proved,  that,  the  balances  appearing  on  the  public  books  against 
individuals  are  not  merely  '•  it.nsett-ed  and  e.iparte  accounts;"  the  de- 
claration of  tlit  administration  at  Washington,  their  organ  the  •  Na- 
tional Intelligencer,"  tothateffeei  notwithstanding.  How  any  respec- 
table men  ca.i,  in  the  face  of  the  records  in  their  own  possession,  en- 
deavour  to  impose  such  a  belief  on  the  public,  is  truly  astonishing. 
From  this  circumstance,  alone,  one  would  be  disposed,  if  not  compel- 
led, to  think,  "there  is  something  rotten  in  the  state  of  Denmark." 

A  few  more  extracts  will  be  made  from  the  books  of  the  fourth 
auditor. 

In  the  report  of  balances  nvaie  by  him  last  winter,  I  find  the  fol- 
lowing entry  : 

"  Flannagan  and  Parsons,  91,000  dollars,  contractors,  Baltimore." 
Here  appears  to  be  a  targe  balance,  of  upwards  of  three  years  stand- 
ing, from  two  individuals  residing  within  *  -e  hours  ride  of  the  capitol! 
And  'ier  ^'iain  the  fourth  auditor  Jo  s  a,>t  vouchsafe  to  tell  us  a  word 
more  •.uoufthe  matter  than  what  you  see  stated  above.  He  merely 
says,  that  Wannagan  and  Parson*  &re  "contractor*,"  [but  does  not 
say  for  what]  and  that  they  owe  the  U  States  the  sum  of  ninety-one 
thousand  dollar*.  Nothing  is  said  abou  frither  cirdits  being  claimed, 
nor  that  any  measures  have,  ,<  vi'l  b^  re  >rted  to,  to  recover  back  the 
money  due.  This,  however,  ia  mu«n  of  a  piece  with  the  other 

items  stated  in  this  officer's  report— -Dy  a  recurrence  to  which  it  will  be 
seen,  that,  in  about  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  even  the  residence  of  the  de- 
linquent is  "unknown." 

There  appears,  i:i  the  same  report,  tc  be  a  liquidated  balance, 
standing  more  than  three  years  from  the  30th  September  last,  against 
Joshua  Foreman,  of  48,274  dollars  21  cents,  and  the  auditor  states, 
that  i>e  neither  knows  his  "  rank"  nor  his  "  residence."  In  short  he 

-  to  know  nothing  about  him.  The  people  are  simply  given  to  un- 
derstand, that  tin's  gentleman  owes  them  nearly  50,000  dofcprs  ;  but  for 
what  purpose  this  money  was  taken  out  ot"  the  publv  treasury  we  are 
left  to  "guess,"  not  a  \vord  being  said  about  the  m;/^-  by  the  fourth 
auditor  more  than  I  have  just  stated.  Are  such  things  as  these  to  be 
endured?  Will  you  submit  to  them?  If  you  do,  you  will  deserve 
iliat  destiny  which  a  culpable  negligence  and  apathy  about  such  matters 
will,  niost  certainly,  sooner  or  later,  bring  about. 

There  appears  froip  this  list  of  balance*  [the  4th  auditor's]  to  be 
about  350.000  dollars  due  to  the  United  States  from  Prize  Jlgents  alone; 
and  these  balances  due  more  than  three  years  from  the  30th  September 
last  Certainly  sufficient  time  has  elapsed  for  these  gentlemen  to  have 
made  a  final  settlement  of  their  accounts. 

The  next  case  to  which  I  refer  in  this  list  is  that  of  Samuel  Smith 
and  Buchanan,  \vho  are  reported  as  delinquents  tor  the  sum  of  8,182 
dollars.  All  the  information  which  the  report  affords,  relative  to  this 
debt,  is  tnat  the  parties  jvs/aV  at-  •'  Jtaltimore  ;J>  not  one  word  said 
about  the  purpose  for  which  this  money  was  ^iven  to  \.;£se  gentlemen 

2    * 


10 

,-. 

from  the  public  treasury.  All  we  know  about  it  is,  that  they  have  got 
the  money,  and  have  had  it  in  their  possession  more  than*  three  years 
from  the  30th  September  last."  We  do  know  t  .  f  this  constitutes  no 
part  of  the  famous  LEGHORN  debt.  That  stands  uoon  the  books  in  the 
names  of  "  Degan  and  Purviance,"  amounts,  at  this  time,  with  interest, 
to  between  one  and  iwo  hundred  thousand  dollar*,  and  is  a  total  loss  to 
the  United  States  ;  though  the  moaey  ought,  long  since,  to  have  been 
recovered  from  Snith  and  Buchanan,  for  reasons  which  they  know,  and 
which  I  could  tell,  if  it  would  now  answer  any  good  purpose  to  do  so. 

A  great  part  of  the  balances  reported  by  tire  fourth  auditor  of  the 
treasury  is  of  a  kind  similar  to  the  cases  1  have  had  particular  reference 
to,  in  this  and  my  last  number.  The  total  amount  of  balances  on  this 
list  is  about  two  millions  of  dollars  ;  and  it  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that, 
although  the  balances  have  remained  on  the  pub  :c  books  for  "  more 
than  three  years  from  the  30th  September  last,"  i<  does  not  appear,  out 
of  about  si JT  hundred  and  fifty  delinquents  on  the  list,  that  any  measures 
have  been  taken  to  recover  bcick  the  w^ney  from  any  hut  *u  o  of  them  ; 
one  of  whom  owes  lew  titan  100  dollars.'  No  wonder  then,  that  the 
p  •",  e  are  compelled  to  borrow  money  when  our  rulers  practice  con- 
duct like  this.  I  do  not  mean  to  say.  that  every  man  whose  name  ap- 
pears on  this  list  is  actually  a  public  defaulter — I  know  to  tl->  contrary 
— but  I  do  believe  the  fa?  greater  number  of  them  are  actual  defaulters, 
and  to  an  immense  amount.  And  be  it  remembered,  that  rf  any  one  of 
them  keeps  a  large  sum  of  money  in  his  hands,  even  for  ten  or  twenty 
years,  and  then  pays  it  into  the  treasury  without  suit  being  ordered  or 
judgment  obtained,  he  is  charged  with  no  interest.  \Vhat  an  induce- 
ment therefore,  is  there  foi  ',<  r.  to  speculate  on  the  public  money  in 
their  hands ;  or  even  to  buy  stocks,  -r  put  it  out  at  lawful  interest ;  see- 
ing that  they  may  do  all  this,  [and  L  have  known  it  to  be  done]  with 
perfect  impunity. 

In  my  next  I  shall  take  notice  of  a  few  of  the  defaulters  on  ano- 
ther set  of  the  public  books — namely  :  those  denominated  "  books  of 
receipts  and  expenditures  ! — on  which  are  entered  monies  advanced  oix 
account  ot  the  "civil  list,-'  *4  foreign  intercourse,"  "miscellaneous/' 
objects,  &c.  &c» 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


NO.  V. 

Having  in  my  last  communication,  promised  to  give  you  in  this, 
some  account  of  the  debts  due  by  individuals  to  the  public,  and  stand- 
ing on  the  books  of  "  Receipts  and  expenditures;"  I  now  enter  upon 
that  duty. 

The  number  of  debtors  on  the  list  now  under  consideration  ["and 
recollect  that  these  also  are  debts  due  "  more  than  three  years  prior  to 


the  3d  September  1820"]  are  about  three  hundred  andffty.  This  may 
be  properly  called  the  **  Civil  List"  balance  sheet,  and  comprehends 
monies  advanced  on  account  of  "  Foreign  Intercourse,"  as  well  as  a 
few  advances  made  from  the  War  mid  Navy  departments,  and  transfer- 
red from  them  to  the  books  of  receipts  and  expenditures.  The  total 
amount  which  appears  to  be  due  froiii  these  delinquents,  I  have  not  yet 
ascertained  :—  but  it  appears,  from  the  remarks  annexed  to  each  :ase 
by  the  comptroller  of  the  treasury,  that,  in  many  cases,  there  w;U  be  a 
total  loss  to  the  United  States,  and  in  a  threat  part  of  the  others  it  is 
doubtful  whether  any  hing  will  be  recovered.  It  is  true  that,  general- 
ly the  balances  appearing  on  this  list  are  riot  so  large  as  those  stated  on 
the  books  of  the  third  and  fourth  auditors—  no  one  delinquent  on  the 
books  of  "  receipts  and  expenditures,"  appearing  to  owe  more  than  be- 
tween 90  and  100,000  dollars  exclusive  of  interest.  But  the  thing 
which  ought  to  excite  the  most  surprise,  if  not  indignation,  is,  that  cer- 
tain names  should  appear  on  this  list  at.  all  ;  seeing  that  some  of  them. 
have  had  more  than  three  times  three  years  allowed  them  for  paying  the 
sums  with  which  they  respectively  stand  charged. 

As  this  list  is  a  public  document,  printed  and  published  for  the  in- 
formation of  the  people  ;  though  from  some  cause  or  other  little  known 
to  them,  it  cannot,  1  think  be  justly  deemed  invidious  in  me  to  make  a 
few  extracts  from  it,  by  way  of  sample,  and  as  affording  you  an  oppor- 
tunity of  judging  of  men,  who,  while  they  would  drain  the  treasury  of 
its  last;  dollar,  without  scruple  or  remorse,  would,  at  the  same  time,  cause 
it  to  be  trumpeted  through  the  nation,  that  they  were  the  most  pure  and 
disinterested  patriots  in  the  world,  and  tht  t  nothing  concerned  them  so 
much  as  the  irelfare  and  liberty  of  the  pi-  pie. 

The  first  case  to  which  I  shaii  refer  you  in  this  list  is  that  of  "  Joel 
Barlow,  late  minister  of  the  United  Slates  to  France."  There  has 
been,  it  would  seem,  a  final  settlement  of  the  accounts  in  this  case; 
and  the  balance  due  the  United  States  is  5,701  dollars  54  cents.  "1  he 
comptroller  of  the  treasury  remarks,  that  "the  representatives  have 
been  requested  to  pay  this  balance  without  delay."  So  the  matter  has 
ended,  and  so  it  will  probably  remain  like  hundreds  of  others,  unless 
through  fear  of  your  arousing  from  your  slumbers,  and  hurling  the  pre- 
sent incumbents  from  power,  they  may  take  the  alarm  and  "institute 
suits,"  for  the  recovery  back  of  the  money.  But  you  will  naturally  en- 
quire, how  can  the  public  functionaries  reconcile  it  ro  iheir  consciences 
and  to  a  proper  discharge  of  their  duties  and  their  oaths,  thus  to  permit 
the  public  monev  to  remain  '[without  hearing  any  interest^]  in  the  hands 
of  the  most  rich"  and  opulent  men,  for  six  or  seven  years,  and  the  go- 
vernment be  obliged  in  the  mean  time  to  resort  to  capitalists  for  the  loan 
of  money  to  defray  its  ordinary  expenses  ?  I  answer,  the  thing  would 
be  inconceivable  for  one  who  did  n«t  know  of  some  of  the  corruptions 
and  abominations  which  prevail  at  Washington. 

It  is  well  known  that  when  Mr.  Barlow  was  nominated  by  presi- 
dent Madison  to  the  senate  as  minister  to  France,  he  stood  charged  on 
the  public  books  with  about  750,000  dollars,  which  he  had  received  to 
be  expended  in  our  intercourse  with  the  Barbary  powers  aad  it  ought 
never  to  be  forgotten  how  and  in  what  manner,  that  money  was  accou  nt- 
ed  for.  -vin  account  was  exhibited  without  the  requisite  vouchers,  and 
thus  it  was  finally  passed  on  the  very  day  m  wnich  the  nomination  of 

his  1  have  from  Hadeubted  an- 


Mr.  B.  was  confirmed  hi/  the  NwntP.    T 


12 

thorifr.  If  any  one  doubts  of  the  fact,  he  is  referred  to  the  journal  oi 
the  senate  and  the  archives  of  the  treasury  for  oroof  of  it. 

A'.:ain:  —  The  comptroller  of  the  treasury  reports  on  this  list  as  fol- 
lows :  —  »'  Patrick  Magruder,  late  clerk  of  the  house  of  representative* 
—  balance  -  Si  8,  167  09 

Ditto  as  Librarian  to  congress.  -  803  74 


In  all     £.18.971   83 

to  which  is  annexed  this  remark  —  <f  suit  ordered  ;  but  district  attorney 
has  not  furnished  the  information  required  of  '«im  respecting  the  pre- 
sent state  of  the  case."  And  this  is  all  the  people  or  congress  are  told 
about  this  debt.  This  money,  except  the  last  item,  was  advanced  to  P. 
Magrnder  from  the  treasury  to  defray  the  contingent  expenses  of  the 
house  of  representatives  ;  that  is,  this  is  the  balance  remaining  in  the 
hands  of  the  late  clerk,  after  giving  him  credit  for  all  his  disbursements, 
It  is  said  the  de'inquent  is  dead,  and  that  the  whole  of  this  money  will 
be  lost  to  the  United  States  :  though  there  need  not  to  have  been  such  a 
loss  to  them  if  the  officers  had  done  their  duty  ;  because  the  U.  States 
have  by  law,  a  priority  of  claim  over  individual  creditors  ;  and  the  de- 
linquent had,  at  the  time  the  deficiency  happened,  considerable  proper- 
ty in  possession. 

Will  the  National  Intelligencer  still  tell  us  that  these  are  not  ba- 
lances actually  due,  but  merely  "  exparte  and  unsettled  accounts  ?" 

In  my  next  I  will  give  vou  a  finv  more  examples  of  these  u  exparte 
accounts,"  as  they  are  called  ;  and  then  leave  you  to  judge  who  is  right, 
the  editors  of  the  Intelligent  v,  nr 

A.  Native  of  Virginia. 


NO.  VI. 

If  any  of  you  should  have  an  opportunity  afforded  you  of  casting 
an  eye  over  the  list  of  rt  public  defaulters,"  you  will  find,  near  the  head 
of  it,  the  name  of  "John  Adams,  late  president  of  the  United  States, 
&c.?'  with  a  balance  stated  against  him  of  12,898  dollars,  and  the  fol- 
lowing remark,  made  by  the  comptrollerof  the  treasury  last  winter,  to 
congress, to  wit:  "  Advanced  on  account  of  the  president's  household. 
A  certificate  was  forwarded  to  the  treasury  that  the  whole  of  the  money 
had  been  expended  ;  which,  however,  wa>  not  deemed  a  sufficient  vou- 
cher by  my  predecessors.  It  is  respectfully  submitted  to  congress, 
whether,  under  the  circumstances  of  the  case,  it  may  not  be  proper  to 
remove  the  difficulty  in  the  settlement  by  a  special  act  ot  congress."'  A 
good  deal  having  been  said  about  this  case,  1  have  deemed  it  proper  to 
give  you  a  correct  view  of  it — not  because  1  believe  there  is  much  money 
due  from  Mr.  Adams  to  the  public,  but  because  I  believe  there  is  involv- 


•• 

i  in  II 


this  transaction  a  principle  of  vital  importance — namely,  whether 
even/  citizen  in  this  country  is  not,  alike  amenable  to  its  laws  ? 

'About  the  time  tint  president  Adams  came  into  office,  congress 
appropriated J^er^ert  thousand  dollars,  to  purchase  furniture,  &c.  for 
the  president's  house.  Whatever  furniture  was  purchased  with  this 
money,  was  pub! i<  property.  Mr.  Adams  drew  the  money  from  the 
treasurjgjrimself,  and  was*  accordingly  charged  with  it  on  the  public 
books.  A  short  time  before  his  term  of  office  expired,  he  sent,  as  the 
comptroller  has  stated,  <k  a  certificate,"  signed  by  himself,  "that  the 
whole  of  the  money  (the  14,000  dollars)  had  been  expended."  This 
certificate  was  in  the  hand-writing  of  Oliver  Wolcott,  then  secretary  of 
the  treasury.  The  then  comptroller  of  the  treasury,  John  Steele,  of 
North  Carolina,  (who  received  his  appointment  from  Gen.  Washington) 
would  not  admit  this  "  certificate"  of  Mr.  Adams,  as  evidence  of  the 
expenditure  of  the  money,  but  required  a  regular  account  supported  by 
the  vouchers,  as  in  ordinary  cases.  These  Mr.  Adams  declined  giving 
— and  so  the  matter  re-ted  until  just  before  he  left  Washington,  in 
March  1-,01,  when  he  paid  back  to  the  treasury  the  sum  of  1,102  dol- 
lars—which  being  deducted  from  the  14,000  dollars  appropriated  by 
congress  as  before  mentioned,  leaves  the  sum  of  12,898  dollars  still 
standing  to  the  debit  of  Mr.  Adams  on  the  treasury  books.  This  is  the 
whole  history  of  the  case.  If  the  proper  officers  had  done  their  duty, 
Mr.  Adams  would  have  been  cowpetled  to  settle  his  account.  That  he 
kept  an  account  of  his  expenditures,  is  evident  from  the  fact  of  his  hav- 
ing made  a  repayment  to  the  treasury  of  1,102  dollars  as  above  stated, 
alleging  that  sum  to  have  remained  unexpended  of  the  14,000  dollars 
appropriated, — although  he  had  previously  certified  that  the  whole  of 
the  14,000  dollars  had  been  expended.  To  show  that  general  Steele 
was  correct  in  not  admitting  Mr.  Adams'  "  certificate"  as  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  the  money  had  been  expended  on  the  object  for  which  it  had 
been  appropriated,  it  is  only  necessary  to  remark,  that  no  charges  for 
the  disbursement  of  public  monies  can  be  legallv  admitted,  unless  they 
be  supported  by  g;n»d  and  s^Tirient  vouchers — with  th  eexception  only  of 
mo-iey  drawn  on  appropriations  '•  for  defraying  contingent  expenses  of 
intercourse  hetween  the  United  States  ind  foreign  nations,"  [common- 

led  "  secret  service  money"]  in  which  case,  and  in  which  only, 4  a 
certificate  [from  the  -'resident]  of  the  amount  of  such  expenditures  as 
he  may  think  it  Advisable  not  to  specify,  fe!;all  be  deemed  a  sufficient 

er  for  the  sum  or  sum-i  therein  expressed  to  have  been  expended." 
>  iOth  May  1M)0.  With  the  light  now  before  them, 
the  public  will  be  enabled  to  j  ml  ire  of  the  "difficulty"  there  has  existed 
in  the  settlement  of  Mr.  Adams'  account ,  and  whether  it  be  such  as  to 
require  "  a  special  act  of  congress"  to  remove  it.  Why  the  account 
has  'been  permitted  so  long  to  remain  open  O'i  the  public  books,  [a  cir- 
cumstance alike  discreditable  to  the  public  functionaries  and  to  Mr. 
Adams,]  1  will  t,ot  •  rott-nd  to  say.  I  hav.->  simply  brought  the  facts  to 
your  notice,  and  you  can  judge  for  yourselves. 

Having  stated  thus  much  in  r^ped  to  an  apparent  debt  due  from 
one  ex-president, — 1  cannot,  in  justice  or  in  tain  <  -;-rf.it  stating  a  tran- 
saction of  a  pecuniary  nature,,  which  took  phir  n  hi?  illustrious 
successor  in  office  [and  truly  iilu-trious  \\cmight  have  descended  to 
posterity^  and  vou.  the  petiple  of  the  United  States.  ^«>  tar  from  its 
affording  me  any  personal  gratification  in  exposing  this  matter  to  public 


14 


I 


view,  I  solemnly  aver,  that  I  most  sincerely  regret,  that  the  transac- 
tion to  which  I  allude  should  have  ever  taken  place.  As  a  native  Ame- 
rican citizen, — seeking  no  place  either  of  distinction  or  profit — and 
prompted  by  no  other  motive  than  to  promote  virtue  and  to  prevent  vice 
• — it  would  have  been  a  heart-felt  satisfaction  to  me  to  have  been  ena- 
bled with  truth  to  record, — that  not  so  much  as  a  blot  or  a  stain  remain- 
ed upon  the  character  or  fame  of  either  of  the  distinguished  men  whom 
the  people  of  this  country,  by  their  free  suffrages,  have  exalted  to  the 
highest  station  within  their  gift.  As  to  some  of  the  foibles,  and  trivial 
aberrations  from  duty,  on  the  part  of  our  political  rulers,  which  are  in- 
cident to  human  nature,  it  would  be  unworthy  the  dignity  of  the  pre- 
sent subject,  to  descend  to  notice.  But  when  a  palpable  and  manifest 
act  of  moral  turpitude  shall  have  beed  committed,  as  regards  the  public 
interest,  and  about  which  no  two  honest  impartial  men  can  possibly  dif- 
fer ; — I  hold  it  to  be  my  duty  [as  I  have  undertaken  to  address  the  pub- 
lic] thus  publicly  to  present  it  to  your  view.  And  ought  any  honest 
man  to  object  to  this?  The  great  bane  of  all  republics  [if  not  the  grea- 
test] is  a  blind  and  heedless  confidence  placed  by  the  people  in  men — 
instead  of  clinging  with  inflexible  constancy  to  those  principles  which, 
can,  alone,  guard  them  from  the  open  usurpations  of  military  despots, 
or  the  more  sly,  but  not  less  dangerous,  machinations  of  political  in- 
triguing hypocrite;-. 

With  these  prefatory  remarks  I  proceed  to  lay  before  you  the  fol- 
lowing statement  of  facts  : 

In  the  year  1789  when  Mr.  Jefferson  resided  in  France  as  minister 
from  the  U.  States,  he  was  in  the  practice  of  drawing  bills,  on  public 
account,  on  our  bankers  at  Amsterdam,  These  bills  he  had  negotiated 
in  Paris,  and  received  the  money  for  them  there.  He  then  charged  him- 
self, or  credited  the  U.  States,  with  the  sums  thus  received.  The  ban- 
kers, of  course  charged  the  United  States  with  the  amount  of  each  bill 
paid  by  them.  In  the  account  which  Mr.  Jefferson  rendered  to,  and 
settled  at  the  treasury,  he  credited  the  U.  States,  in  his  own  hand  writ- 
ing, underrate  of  21st  October  1789,  as  follows:  "cash  received  [by 
him]  of  Grand  for  bill  on  Willink  and  Van  S*as>hor»f,  2870  guilders 
— 1148  dollars  ;"  and  accordingly  this  sum  was  brought  to  his  debit  by. 
the  accounting  officers  of  the  treasury  during  the  administration  of  ge- 
neral Washington. 

But  it  appears,  that  the  bill  above  mentioned,  and  for  which  Mr. 
Jefferson  acknowledged  to  have  received  the  '•  cash,"  did  not  get  to 
the  hands  of  our  bankers  at  Amsterdam  ;  or,  if  it  did,  they  did  not 
charge  it  in  their  accounts  with  the  U.  States.  The  probability  is,  that 
as  the  French  revolution  was  then  about  breaking  out,  this  bil!  was  lost 
by  the  individual  who  purchased  it  amid  the  general  confusion  which 
then  prevailed  in  France.  Be  this,  however,  as  it  may — this  bill  of  ex- 
change has  not  yet  come  to  light :  at  least  it  had  not  when  Mr.  Jeffer- 
son's second  term  of  office,  as  president,  expired  in  the  year  1809  :  for 
notwithstanding  he  had,  by  his  own  acknowledgment,  received  the 
money  for  it  from  Grand,  in  Paris,  on  the  21st  October  1789,  he  ne- 
vertheless in  March  1809,  nearly  twenty  years  afterwards,  demanded 
and  again  received  the  money  for  this  same  bill  at  the  public  treasury  wf 
the  United  States  !  as  will  appear  from  the  following  copy  of  his  ac- 
count on  file*  <fc  The  United  States  to  Thomas  Jefferson  Dr.  For  this 
sum,  being  the  amount  of  2870  guilders  brought  to  his  debit  in  the  state-- 


15 

of  his  account  at  the  treasury,  per  report  No.  15,871,  beyond  the 
amount  which  appears  to  have  been  actually  paid  to  him  by  the  bankers 
of  tlie  department  of  state  at  Amsterdam,  40  cents  per  guilder,  dollars 
1 1  IS."  The  expressions  in  the  above  account,  beyond  the  amount  actu- 
ally paid  to  him  by  the  bankers"  &c.  are  evidently  incorrect,  and  cal- 
culated to  deceive — because  the  bankers  did  not  pay  to  him,  but  on  his 
order  or  drafts.  The  plain  truth  of  the  matter,  however,  is  this — that 
Mr.  Jefferson  has  twice  received  the  money  on  this  same  bill — first  at 
Paris,  where  he  negotiated  it,  in  1789,  and  afterwards  at  Washington 
in  1809.  And  I  do  contend,  that,  upon  no  correct  principle  of  law  or 
morality  had  he  a  shadow  of  right  to  take  the  money  a  second  time. 
He  had  no  more  rii»ht  to  go  to  the  public  treasury  to  demand  this  money 
than  any  other  individual  in  the  community.  It  was  the  common  pro- 
perty of  all :  and  just  as  well,  upon  the  same  principle  and  with  equal 
justice,  might  the  president  of  a  banking  institution,  on  its  being  wound 
up,  demand  payment  out  of  its  coffers,  for  the  amount  of  all  the  notes 
which  were  lost  or  destroyed  in  the  course  of  its  banking  operations. 
Neither  Mr.  Jefferson,  nor  any  body  else,  had  a  right  to  profit  by  the 
loss  of  the  bill  in  question,  which  the  government  will  be  bound  injus- 
tice and  good  faith  to  pay,  should  it  ever  be  presented  for  payment. 
And  here  it  may  be  proper  to  remark,  that  no  security,  by  way  "of  in- 
demnity to  the  U.  States,  in  the  event  of  a  contingency  of  that  kind, 
was  taken  from  Mr.  Jefferson.  His  accounts  as  minister  in  France  had 
been  settled  and  closed  for  nearly  twenty  years.  They  were  opened 
for  the  unworthy — 1  will  not  say  dishonest — purpose  of  taking  money 
from  the  public  treasury  which  he  had  not  the  shadow  of  right  to  claim 
or  demand.  If  any  one  should  ask  how  the  accounting  officers  of  the 
treasury  were  induced  to  allow  to  Mr.  Jefferson  this  claim  ? — it  may  be 
answered,  that,  even  in  our  republic,  there  are  not  wanting  men  who 
will  wrong  the  public  and  their  own  consciences,  for  the  purpose  of  ob- 
taiuing  favor  with  certain  great  men. 

I  have  now,  fellow  citizens,  given  you  a  faithful  and  candid  state- 
ment of  a  case  which  derives  its  greatest  importance  from  the  princi- 
ple involved  in  it.  For  if  it  be  once  admitted  in  this  country,  that  the 
high  public  functionaries  may,  with  impunity,  transgress  the  law,  and 
Jthe  general  rules  provided  for  the  government  of  all — and  particularly 
in  matters  of  a  pecuniary  nature — then,  indeed,  may  it  be  truly  said, 
•that  our  lawsand  our  constitutions  are  not  worth  preserving;  and  the 
sooner  we  get  rid  ot  them  the  better. 

Painful  indeed  to  me  has  been  the  task  of  thus  publicly  bringing 
before  the  bar  of  the  public  one  who  once  had  [though  not  for  many 
years  past]  my  entire  confidence,  and  for  whom  1  entertained  more  than 
ordinary  respect.  But  my  motto  is,  in  the  course  of  these  investiga- 
tions into  the  conduct  of  public  men — <;  /  will  nothing  extenuate  nor 
aught  set  down  in  malice." 

One  other  case,  taken  from  the  list  of  f<  public  defaulters,"  will 
close  this  communication.  It  is  that  of  "  Return  Jonathan  Meigs,  re- 
lative to  making  roads,  &c."  The  sum  with  which  he  stands  charged 
in  the  treasury  books,  is  5,500  dollars.  The  comptroller  of  the  trea- 
sury annexes  to  this  case  the  following  most  curious  remarks  namely; 
fi  He  was  requested  to  render  his  accounts  and  vouchers  relative  to  the 
disbursement  of  this  money.  He  produced  vouchers  in  1819,  which 
were  deposited  in  the  auditors  office,  but  not  being  accompanied  by 


19 

4r 

a  general  account  current,  he  was  requested  to  render  one  to  that  offi- 
cer. It  is  understood  that  the  vouchers  were  withdrawn  from  'he  au- 
ditor's office,  for  that  purpose,  and  have  not  since  been  returned." 
These  remarks  will,  of  themselves,  I  should  suppose,  give  you  a  tole- 
rable correct  idea  how  the  public  business  is  managed  at  Washington. 
This  Mr.  Meigs,  you  must  know,  is  the  present  postmaster  general  of 
the  U.  States.  lie  has  had  this  public  money  in  his  hands  some  8  or 
30  years.  But  public  delinquents  pay  the  government  no  interest,  ex- 
cept en  judgments  against  them — and  very  few  of  those  are  obtained. 

Although  Mr.  Meigs  may  have  expended  a  part  of  this  money,  the 
presumption  is,  that  he  has  not  expended  the  whole  of  it, — else,  why 
not,  at  once,  settle  the  account?  So  long  as  he  can  retain  the  balance 
with  impunity,  and  without  paying  interest,  he  finds  it  to  be  his  inter- 
est to  do  so.  Will  not  a  case,  even  of  this  kind,  open  your  eyes  ?  Here 
is  a  public  officer  of  high  trust,  retaining  the  public  money  in  his  hands 
or  vesting  it  in  stock,  to  bring  something  in,  and,  at  the  same  time,  re- 
gularly receiving  his  quarter's  salary  at  the  treasury  of  the  U.  States! 
And  all  this,  too,  directly  under  the  nose  of  him  whose  constitutional 
duty  it  is  "  tatake  care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed." 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


NO  \IL 

It  is,  perhaps,  less  important  for  you  to  know  the  amount  of  the 
public  money  which  individuals  have  got  in  their  possession,  and  are 
permitted  to  retain  in  their  hands,  than  it  is  to  be  informed  of  the  man- 
ner bv  which  they  became  possessed  of  it,  and  the  circumstances  under 
which  they  hold  it.  To  afford  you  some  information  on  these  points,' 
from  which  you  will  be  enabled  to  judge  of  the  fitness  of  the  men,  now 
in  power,  to  manage  your  affairs,  is  a  primary  object  of  these  commu-, 
nications.  It  is  ;  01  to  be  expected,  that  every  -case  of  culpability,  of 
thiskind,  can  be  now  noticed.  To  do  this,  would  occupy  a  space  far 
beyond  that  prescribed  for  these  remarks.  A  few  leading  instances, 
therefore,  ot  malversation  in  office,  will  be  brought  to  your  view  ;  rind 
from  these,  a  tolerable  correct  opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  general 
course  of  official  transactions  at  the  seat  of  the  general  government. 

On  the  books  of  C(  receipts  and  expenditures"  there  appears  to  be 
a  balance  standing  against  "  Charles  Pinckney,*  late  minister  U.  S.  to 
Spain,"  of  12,508  dollars  -'Scents — to  which  case  the  comptroller  of 
the  treasury  annexes  the  following  remarks:  "Informal;  accounts 
rendered  to  the  fifth  auditor,  which  have  not  been  definitively  decided 
on."  And  wherefore  ?  Because  it  is  known  they  cannot  or  ought  not 
to  be  admitted.  It  is  now  upwards  of  twenty  years  since  this  gentle- 
man was  appointed  minister  to  Spain,  and  about  ten  years  since  his  re- 
turn to  this  country.  The  first  accounts  he  had  settled  at 'the  treasury, 


17 

m 

him  indebted  to  the  U.  States  in  the  sum  of  70,000  dollars.  This 
balance,  it  s  -MHS,  is  now  reduced  to  12,508  dollars  as  above  stated. 
How  this  lias  been  done,  I  am  unable  to  say  ;  nor  will  it  be  known,  un- 
til congress  shall  call  upon  the  head  of  the  proper  department  to  furnish 
a  copy  of  the  accounts. 

'The  act  of  congress  of  the  10th  \fay,  1800,  (vol.  v.  p.  187)  which 
fixes  the  compensation  to  be  allowed  to  our  ministers.  &c.  at  foreign 
courts,  has,  L  feel  well  assured,  received  a  construction  differing  wide- 
ly from  its  letter  and  spirit.  The  1st  section  of  that  act  declarer  that, 
"  exclusive  of  an  outfit,  which  shall,  in  no  case  exceed  the  amount  ^f 
one  year's  full  salary  to  any  minister  plenipotentiary  or  charge  dp-  af- 
faires, to  whom  the  same  may  be  allowed, — the  president  of  the  Unit 
e<i  States  shall  not  allow  to  jiy  minister  plenipotentiary  a  greater  sum 
than  at  the  rate  of  nine  thousand  doMars  per  annum,  as  a  compensation 
for  all  his  personal  services  and  expense:;.*'  It  is  not  my  intention  at 
nt,  to  specify  cases  wherein  greater  allowances  have  been  made 
than  this  law  has  authorized  ;  but  increiv  to  bring  the  subject  to  public 
notice,  in  order  that  congress  may,  it  they  see  tit.  institute  an  enquiry 
into  the  matter.  Confident  I  am,'  however,  that  allowances  to  a  very 
considerable  amount,  have  been  made  to  our  foreign  ministers,  *vhicli 
ihis  law  does  not  justify,  and  which,  therefore,  were  irregula:  and  il- 
aU* 

In  the  case  of  Mr.  P5nckney,t  now  under  consideration,  no  steps 
appear  to  have  been  taken,  to  recover  back  the  public  money  in  his 
hands.  The  remark  of  the  comptroller,  that  there  are  "informal  ac- 
counts in  the  office  of  the  5th  a  iditor,  not  definitely  decided  on,"  i^  weak 
and  puerile,  and  evidently  intended  to  screen  this  defaulter  from  public 
odium — if  any  thing  could  screen  such  a  ?;ianfrom  public  contempt  and 
indignation. 

I  leave  this  case,  and  pass  on  ^o  another,  which,  although,  compa- 
ratively speaking,  is  small  in  amount,  exceeds  in  enormity  any  that  has 
yet  been  mentioned.  I  allude  to  the  case,  as  stated  on  the  comptrol- 
ler's list,  of  "  John  Payne,  late  charge  dis  affaires  at  Tripoli."  To 
enable  the  people  to  judge  of  the  manner  in  which  their  money  has  been 
disbursed  by  the  public  agents,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a  short  history  of 
the  Circumstances,  under  which  the  sum  of  5,500  dollars  of  their  money, 
*"£that  being  the  amount  standing  to  the  debit  of  Mr.  Payne]  has  been 
.taken  out  of  the  public  treasury. 

John  Pavne  was  a  wild,  dissipated  youth,  br''n  er  to  Mrs.  Madi- 
-on,  wife  of  the  late  president.  About  ten  years  uj  a  Mr.  Davis  [I 

,\  that  was  the  name,]  was  duly  appointed  consul  of  the  U.  States 

/ide  at  Tripoli.  To  this  office,  there  is  annexed  by  law,  a  salary 
of  two  thousand  dollars  a  year,  and  nothing  more.  Young  Payne  went 
out  to  the  coast  of  Barbary  with  Mr.  Davis,  either  as  a  companion«or  a 
cL'.-k,  or  both  :  but  certainly  not  in  the  employ  of  the  U.  States,  Mr, 
Davis  remained  some  time  at  Tripoli,  and  then  returned  to  the  U.  S9 
•Perhaps  it  will  be  said,  for  example,  that  the  cost  of  a  court  dress 
for  the  wife  of  one  of  our  ministers  abroad,  is  no  part  of  his  "personal 
expenses" — and,  therefore,  may  be  legally  charged  by  him  to  the  U. 
States.. 

tThis  gentleman  helped  to  write  Mr.  Jefferson  into  office  :  and  as  a 
reward  for  his  faithful  services,  got  the  appointment  of  minister  pleni- 
potentiary to  the  court  of  Spain. 

3 


18 

Mr.  Payne  remained,  for  a  short  time,  at  Tripoli,  but  in  what'  capacity 
I  co  }\  I  never  learn,  although  I  now  perceive  he  is  styled  '•  charge  des 
affair?*"  But  I  am  well  assured  he  received  no  such  appointment  from 
his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Madison  ;  and,  if  the  journals  of  the  senate 
shall  be  referred  to,  no  nomination  of  Mr.  Payne,  for  such  an  office,  or 
indeed,  for  any  office,  will,  I  apprehend,  be  there  found.  And  yet  Mr. 
Monroe,  who  was  then  secretary  of  state,  has  drawn  on  the  secretary 
of  the  treasury  in  favor  of  this  same  Mr.  Payne,  for  n<>  less  a  sum  than 
5,500  dollars,  \vith  which  he,  Mr.  Payne,  stands  charged  (and  will, 
probably,  forever  so  stand]  on  the  treasury  books.  A  part  of  this  mo- 
ney was  even  advanced  to  him  some  time  after  his  return  to  the  U.  States; 
and  he  has  not  to  this  day,  or  at  the  time  the  comptroller  made  his  last 
report  to  congress,  exhibited  a  single  voucher,  to  show  that  any  part 
of  this  money  had  been  disbursed  on  public  account.  Comment  on  a 
transaction  like  this,  is  unnecessary.  It  can  be  no  argument  to  you,  to 
say,  that  the  sum.  thus  advanced,  was  not  a  large  one.  He,  who  could 
feel  no  scruple  in  directing  5,000  dollars  to  be  wrongfully  paid  cut  of 
the  public  treasury,  would  feel  none  in  directing  5,000.000  dollars  to  be 
paid  in  the  same  manner;  provided,  in  each  case,  equal  impunity  could 
be  felt  by  him.  I  will  not  give  you  an  account  of  the  manner  in  which 
this  public  money  was  spent  about  the  seat  of  the  general  government. 
It  would  be  too  disgusting  forme  to  relate,  or  for  you  to  hear.  It  is 
sufficient  for  my  purpose,  to  state  to  you  the  facts  in  the  case,  and  to 
bring  to  your  notice  the  public  functionary  who  directed  this  money  to 
be  paid.  But,  as  I  shall  have  to  pay  my  respects  directly  to  this  high 
officer,  in  the  course  of  these  essays,  1  shall  say  nothing  further,  at  pre- 
sent, on  this  part  of  the  subject. 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


^  M 

HM^I 

ns.  when  I  concluded   to  ad- 


No.  VIII. 

It  was  not  m\  ention,  feliovv  citizens, 
dress  you  on  the  subject  of  public  defaulters,  and  some  other  matters  in 
which  you  are  deeply  interested,  to  stop  in  my  course,  for  the  purpose 
of  replying  to  every  person  who  might  think  himself  aggrieved  by  an 
exhibition  of  the  facts  contained  in  my  several  communications.  But 
seeing,  from  some  of  the  public  prints,  that  the  letter  of  Mr.  John 
Crabb,  published  in  this  paper  of  the  llth  inst.  is  received  as  evidence, 
not  only  of  his  owing  nothing  to  the  public  ;  but  also  of  the  correct 
conduct  of  the  officers  of  the  general  government,  as  regards  the  large 
sum  of  money  which  he  drew  from  the  public  treasury  of  the  U,  States, 
— I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  give  you  this  further  exposition  of  that  af- 
fair. 

Mr.  Crabb  acknowledges,  as?  well  he  may,  thai  he  obtained  from 
(he  treasury  of  the  U.  $.  the  sum  of  672,000  dollars,  and  upwards  ,  and 


I 


19 


he  ailed. ires,  that  he  can  account  for  the  disbursement  of  the  whole  *ol 
this  sum,  provided  th  proper  accounting  ofilcers  v\ill  allow  him  ail  the 
credits  e  claims  !  But  !u>  distinctly  intimates,  in  his  letter,  (and  so  it 
may  fairly  be  presumed,  lie  has  informed  the  public  functionaries)  that, 
unless  th^v  will,  before-hand,  agree  to  place  to  his  credit,  every-thing 
which  he  claims,  lie  will  render  them  no  account,  voucher,  or  satisfac- 
tion whatsoever,  for  the  expenditure  of  this  large  su  i  !  In  my  former 
oammunication  on  this  case,  1  stated  no  fact  which  I  did  not  obtain  from 
the  official  report  under  the  hand  of  the  fourth  auditor  of  the  treasury: 
and  I  put  down,  word  for  word,  figure  for  figure,  which  that  officer  has 
caused  to  be  made  and  written  in  the  column  of  u  remarks"  annexed  to 
this  debt.  If  therefore,  any  injustice  has  been  done  to  Mr,  C'rabb  in 
1  his  respect,  it  is  no  fault  of  mine.  The  fourth  auditor  has  said  one 
thing,  and  Mr.  Crabh  has  said  another.  You  have  his  say  so,  opposed 
to  the  office  books  and  the  official  report.  You  can  believe  which  you 
please.  But  why  did  not  Mr.  Crabb  protest  against  this  official  report 
w  -en  it  was  submitted  to  congress,  last  winter  ?  Let  him  answer  the 
<;u  sfion.  But  it  is  not  with  Mr.  Crabb  that  1  mean  to  contend,  or  that 
the  people  are  to  look  to  in  tins  affair.  Enough  has  been  disclosed  to 
show,  that  there  has  been  a  most  shameful  abuse  of  the  public  trust  in 
respect  to  this  matter,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  1  challenge  the  annals  of 
any  country  to  show  a  parrallel  to  it.  Mr.  Crabb  states,  that  he  was 
paymaster  to  the  marine  corps,  from  Iftl1  to  1817;  that  during  that 
period  he  received  nearly  700,000  dollars  -.;(  public  money, — and  he  has 
never,  as  far  as  can  be  ascertained,  settled  a  single  account !  He  has 
"  rendered  accounts,  [says  the  4th  auditor,]  to  the  amount  of  1(3,089 
dollars  69  cents  ;  but  they  cannot  be  adjusted,  as  the  pay  rolls  have  not 
been  certified  by  the  inspector  of  the  marine  corps."  Let  us  here  pause 
a  moment;  and  candidly  and  dispassionately  inquiie  how  this  matter 
stands.  The  laws,  and  the  regulations  of  the  public  departments,  re- 
quire that  accounts  between  the  U.  States  and  public  officers  who  receive 
public  money,  should  be  settled  periodically — generally  quarter  yearly 
— except  foreign  ministers  and  others  residing  out  of  the  country.  The 
Ijfefiraster  of  the  marine  corps  was  in  office  from  1811  to  1817.  Ad- 
es  of  public  money,  during  that  period,  were  nv  >  to  him  from 
together  to  the  sum  before  s  d  It  seems 

lie  resides  at  t'  -ral  government.     No  quarterly  settle- 

.  -count  w;;s  made.   At  length,  when  asked  for  a  settlement, 
to  render  his  accounts  and  vouchers  for  that  purpose, — what   does 
ay  ?     Why,  "  if  YOU  will  do  me  the  justice  to  which  1  think  myself 
"—  -i.  c-.  if  you  will  agree,  before-hand,  to  admit  all  that  I  ask, 
I  will,  in  that  cavv.',  condescend  to  render  you  an   account  of  what  i 
have  done  with  the  meney  committed   to  my  care,  and  not  otherwise. 
And  what  then  ?     Is  he  sued  ?     Ar«  any  steps  taken  to  enforce  pay- 
ment of  thci  debt.,  or  to  obtain  a  settlement  of  the  account?     I   answer 
I  none — although  it  is  now  four  years  since  the   delinquent  went  out  of 
^office  ! 

v  t'iin'i;  like  this  should  be  told  us  is  having  happened  in  any 
[of  t':  inments  of  the  old  world,  and  we  should   be  asked 

!d,  unhe^utingly,  answer, — there  had  been 
I  c ! ' 

N"ativc  of  Virginia* 


20 


NO.  IX. 


It  is  both  lamentable  and  disgusting  to  sec  the  arts  and  contrivances 
to  which  some  men  will  resort  to  keep  t1  emselve.s  in  power,  an'  "-nil 
the  people.  A  man,  for  example,  professing  political  opinions  adverse 
to  those  of  the  dominant  party,  is  kept  in  the  public  service  as  a  kind 
of  witness  or  toucher  to  prove  the  correct  conduct  of  administrate.  ;  : 
so  that  when  ever  objection  is  made  to  any  of  its  acts,  another  syco- 
phant immediately  exclaims,  "  Why  how  unreasonable  you  are — here 
is  a  Mister  such  a  one.  a  decided  federalist,  who  is  ciearly  of  the 
opinion  that  yon  are  wrong,  and  that  the  thing  you  complain  of  was  en- 
tirely ri^ht" — and  then  he  will  add.  with  a  sneer,  "sure  you  would  not 
differ  with  one  of  your  own  parly."  Such  ridiculous  stuff  as  this  I 
have  often  been  obliged  to  listen  to  from  minions,  who  call  themselves 
republicans  or  federalists,  as  may  best  suit  their  purpose,  and  the  pur- 
poses of  those  by  whom  they  are  employed. 

1  was  led  to  the  fore<roir.g  remarks  from  casting  my  eye  over  the  list 
ol  public  delinquents  and  discovering  on  it  some  names  which  brought 
to  my  recollection  some  facts  which  ought  to  be  made  public — to  the 
end  that  you  may  (those  of  you  who  are  disposed  to  think]  form  some 
idea  how  your  taxes  are  disposed  of  by  those  intrusted  with  their  dis- 
tribution. 

On  the  list  of  public  delinquents,  as  taken  from  the  books  of  receipt* 
and  expenditures,  you  will  perceive  is  entered  the  name  of  "  Richard 
Forrest,''  with  a  liquidated  balance  standing  against  it  of  1846  dollars 
12  cents,  said  to  be  *'  in  relation  to  Mediterranean  powers."     The 
comptroller  remarks:  "he   has  been   requested   to  pay  this  balance, 
which,  if  not  promptly  done,  suit  will   be  ordered"     \Yearenottold 
how  long  this  balance  lias  remained  due  ;  but  that  it  arises  "  in  relation 
to  Mediterranean  powers."     The  facts  in  the  case,  however,  are  these  : 
Seme  nine  or  ten  years  ago,  when   \\c  paid  tribute  to  the  Re^em 
Algiers,  Mr.  R.  Forrest  (known  to  all  his  acquaintances  ax  an  e.\ 
lent  good  fed   'alist)  was  designated  by. Mr.  Monroe,  secretary  of 
in  whose  office  Mr.  F.  was  a  clerk,   to  purchase  naval  stores  to  be  sent 
out  to  the  Dey  of   Algiers.     Money  was  accordingly  adva 
purpose,  on  the  orders  of  the  secretary  of  state,   in  favor  of  ' 
rest,  who  was  allowed  a  commission  on   the  dir>!->ir« v-i'iiient.     I  am 
going  to  enquire  whether  Mr.  Monroe  could  not  have  made  a  mo; 
dicious  appointment,  for  this  object,  at  some  one  oi  our  principal  > 
port  towns;  but  will  simply  state,  that  he  has  drawn   in  favor  of  Mr. 
Forrest  for  nearly  2000  dollars  more  than  the  amount  of  the  tribute  then 
due  ;  and  that  MY.  F.  has  kept  this  excess  in  hands  ever  b'mce  free  from 
the  charge  of  interest.     Nor   will   I  even   hint  at  the  motives  of  Mr. 
Monroe  in  selecting  one  of  his  own  clerks  to  perform   a  service  (his 
salary  as  clerk  going  on   at  the  same  time)   which  hitherto  had  been 
confided  10  some  person  of  experience  in  such  matters,  icsiding  at  one 
of  our  maritime  ports.     You  are  now  possessed  of  the  principle  facts  in 
this  case,  and  can  judge  for  yourselves. 

On  the  books  of  the  fourth  a-iditor,  a  liquidated  balance  appears 
against  "  Tobias  Lear,"  of  3,2^  :oHars  10  cents.  This  gentlemen  WHS 


21 

•pcr-nd  auditor  of  t!:c  trr,v-nry,  and  formerly  consul  general  of  the 
United  N.iU-s  nt  Algiers.  The  balance  accrued  in  the  latter  capacity. 
1  would  just  ask  Mr.  Monroe  (Tor  there  is  no  man's  station  in  this 
yet  so  high  but  that  he  may  he  asked  a  civil  question)  upon  what  prin- 
ciple he  directed  an  advance  of  public  money  to  be  made  to  Mr. 
Lear  to  the  amount  of  5,1-12  dollars  85  cents — when  at  the  sime 
time, he,  Mr.  Lear,  was  a  debtor  on  the  public  books?  But  more  of 
this  hereafter. 

On  the  books  of  the  fourth  auditor,  there  appears  to  be  a  charge  of 
2,500  dollars,  "  advanced  to  John  P.  Van  Ness,"  on  account  of  "  a  con- 
tract for  timber.5'  I  think  it  has  been  about  ten  years  since  this  money 
has  been  <;  advanced.**— Will  the  fourth  auditor  say,  that  there  has  been 
a  stick  of  the  timber  furnished  ?  Let  him  tell  us.  General  Van  Ness, 
President  of  the  JBank  of  the  Metropolis,  we  are  informed,  has  got  the 
money;  and  that  is  all  the  "Swinish  multitude"'  are  told  about  the 
matter.  I  will,  however,  tell  them— that  the  general  pay*  no  interest 
on  this  advance. 

The  greatest  imaginable  abuses  and  impositions  take  place  upon  the 
people's  rights  and  interests  by  the  practice  which  prevails  in  our  go- 
vernment, of  making  what  are  called  "  advances"  of  public  money  to 
individuals  who  make,  or  pretend  to  make,  contracts  for  various  pur- 
.  When  a  man  gets  somewhat  straightened  in  his  pecuniary  af- 
fairs or  when  he  has  some  great  speculation  in  view,  it  directly  occurs 
to  him,  that  if  he  can  only  get  a  contract  with  government,  no  matter  for 
what,  his  objects  can  be  speedily  accomplished ;  because,  in  that  case, 
particularly  if  he  be  a  favorite,  or  of  much  political  influence,  he  will  get 
a  considerable  advance,  which  he  puts  in  his  pocket;  is  "  charged  and 
held  accountable"  for  it  on  the  public  books,  and  so  the  matter  rests  for 
years  and  years.  Meanwhile,  the  individual  is  enjoying  the  nse  of  this 
money,  without  interest  or  premium,  while  the  government  is  obliged 
to  borrow  money  on  interest  to  pay  rightful  claims.  And  this  is  what 
the  '«  National  Intelligencer"  would  tell  us  was  an  li  exparte  account," 
on  which  there  was  "  nothing  due!" 

A  Native  of  Virginia, 


NO.  X. 

Pacts,  like  those  which  I  am  about  to  record,  would,  some  years 
ago,  if  made  known,  have  excited  the  indignation  of  every  honest  man 
in  this  nation.  But  so  deep  have  we,  of  late,  sunk  into  lethargic  habits, 
as  regards  the  affairs  ef  the  general  government,  that  I  begin  to  be  ap- 
prehensive, that  no  conduct,  however  unjust  or  iniquitous,  on  the  part 
of  our  executive  rulers,  will  awaken  you  froir  your  fatal  slumber.  That 
there  has,  in  the  case  to  whic>  1  particularly  allude,  been  a  most  shame- 
ful dereliction  of  dutv,  and  a-,  absolute  violation  of  public  trust,  on  the 


part  of  administration,  will—  nay  must  be   admitted  by   evcrv  honest 
man     in    the    community,    no    matter  to   what   party  he    may    be- 

In  the  list  of  public  defaulters,  as  reported  by  the  third  auditor  of 

the  treasury    appears  the  name  of  "Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  late  governor 

jVTiTi  i         '    a"     n°W  Vlce-Presifient  of  the  U.  States,  with  a   Hnui- 

ated  balance  annexed  to  it  of  11,022  dollars  57  cents,  to  which  is  sub^ 

^A^m^l^\^  auditor'  "  Balance  of  his   account,  set- 
tied  Uth  June    1820."     Would  it  not  have  been  more  ingenious   in  the 

?u  .  '[  t0  -have  Sfated  the  who[e  of  the  fa'ts  in  this  else  ?     Will  h< 

S  ^  ,f.£VCe?,re81(ieutTisnott!elin^uent011  oth(>r  ^counts  beside 
that  <>  wttled  on  the  14th  June  1820  ?»'  But  we  will,  for  the  present, 
pass  over  that  matter,  and  admit,  for  arguments  sake,  that  the  J  1,000 
dollars  L  which,  however,  ,s  not  the  fact]  is  the  only  debt  which  that  offi- 
cer owes  to  the  public-  What  will  you  say,  when'1  tell  you  that,  in  the 
lace  of  this  balance  against  him,  he  i.  permitted  to  draw,  and  does  ac- 
tually  draw  from  the  pub^c  treasury,  hi.  salary  quarter  yearly,  at  the 
rate  of  5000  dollar*  p*  annum  ?  If  this  be  not  downright  treachery 
to  your  interests,  I  am  at  a  loss  to  imagine  what  would  be.  The  rice 
presiden  has  enjoyed  the  use  of  this  money,  [and  a  great  deal  more  be- 
longing to  you]  for  many  y«ars,  and  without  interest.  Instead  of  com- 
ling  him  to  return  it  from  whence  he  got  it,  it  does  not  appear  that 
he  has  eren  been  «  requested"  to  do  so;  but,  contrary  to  every  principle 
of  justice  and  right,  receives  from  the  treasury,  every  three  month*  uV 


er  .'^a 

rank  to  the  president,  quietly  and  peaceably  enjoyin-  the 

argesurnsof  your  money,  and  paying  no  interest  on  theJSame-we 
the  same  time,  he  is  drawing  money  from  your  treasury,  placed  there 
m  loans  on  which  you  are  paying  interest  !     Let  those  in  power  deny 
-his  statement  if  they  can-^if  they  dare.     What  would  you  say  ;  or,  rl 
ther,  what  would  you  do,  if  a  transaction  like  this  were  to  take  place  un- 
o    do   T     J07     a     -overnmeilts  ?     What  would  any  one  of  you  say, 
'60  JOUrKP7Vate  a£entS9houId  «  this  manner  violate  and 
you  had  reposed  in  him  ?     Do  we  live  in   a  country 


iJo  you  subscribe  to  the  doctrine,  that  it 
with  the  principles  of  our  government,   "to  render  ermal 

SWMEKssSsS'TftaSffi 

j,4,5t.7;h±;,'^?ES;;;si™'1  K  - IK 

to  bear  in  mind,  thar  r»f 


he  f  - 

te,that  i  •*  Jee  simple  mm  vs.       Upon  what  nrincinlp   , 

ticeor  honest    the  ' 


stify  themselves  in  this 
that  it  comes  from  a  "di 


"—  butal    this  uiil 

" 


A  Native  of  Virginia, 


m 

NO.  XL 

As  yet,  I  have  adverted  to  a  few  cases  only  of  palpable  delinqueu- 
on "three  sets  of  the  public  books;  namely,  the  books  of  the  third 
and  fourth  auditors,  and  those  denominated  "books  of  receipts  and 
expenditures,"  which  contain  the  account  of  receipts  aud  disbursements- 
relative  to  the  civil  list,  &c.  All  the  monies  charged  on  these  three 
sets  of  books,  were  drawo  directly  from  the  treasury  of  the  United 
States.  There  are  yet  other  public  books  on  which  individuals  are 
charged  for  public  money  received  by  them  before  it  comes  into  the 
public  treasury;  namely,  the  "  books  of  the  customs,"  on  which  collec- 
tors of  the  customs  are  charged  with  balances  due  on  their  accounts,  re- 
spectively, the  ''books  of  internal  revenue  and  direct  tax,"  on  which  the 
collectors  of  internal  revenue  and  direct  tax  are  charged  ;  and  the  books 
of  the  genewil  post  office, on  which  delinquent  post  Tnasters  and  others  are 
charged  with  public  money  in  their  hands  arising  from  that  source  of 
revenue.  licsides,  these,  there  are  other  public  delinquents  to  an  im- 
mense amount,  (not  to  mention  the  debtors  for  public  lands)  who  are 
not  specifically  charged  on  any  of  the  public  hooks  at  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment; such,  for  example,as  debtors  on  the  custom  house  books  [the  actual 
delinquencies  of  which  class  of  debtors  amount,  I  think,  according  to 
a  late  report  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  to  two  millions  of  dol- 
lars]— forfeitures  and  penalties  incurred  and  remaining  due  to  a  very 
great  amount ;  to  which  may  be  added  foreign  bills  of  exchange  pur- 
chased by  the  agents  of  the  United  States,  and  protested  for  non-pay- 
ment. 

The  total  amount  of  balances  on  the  three  sets  of  books  first  above- 
mentioned,  to  wit:  those  of  the  third  and  fourth  auditor,  and  of  "re- 
ceipts and  expenditures,"  appears  to  be  upwards  of  eighteen  millions  of 
dollars — to  which  may  fairly  be  added,  for  debts  in  the  other  cases 
above  specified,  [always  excluding  the  debt  due  for  public  lands  sold] 
the  sum  of  seven  millions  of  dollars — making  a  grand  total  of  twenty- 
five  millions  of  dollars.  From  this  we  will  deduct  the  sum  of  five  mil- 
>  lions  ,  .;\e  amount  which  will  probably  be  admitted  to  the  credit  of  indi- 
viduals :iou  ciiarj;ed.  Thon  there  will  be  left  [exclusive  of  the  debt  due 
0:1  account  of  public  lands  >>nld]  no  less  a  sum  than  twenty  millions  of 
from  individuals  to  the  Unites  States.  This,  I 

verilx  II  considerably  short  ottiie  true  amount  now  due — 

^ta ntly  in  mind,  that  these   reported  balances 

were  due  for  r=  e  years  prior  to  the  30th  of  Sept.  U-20 — 

rt  of  these  balances  accrued  ;..:or  to  the 
rfent  Monroe's  administration.     We  shall  see, 

by  and'J  3lic  moruy   has  been  applied,  or  rather  mis- 

ai.'j'lied  uii  al  management.    One  thing  I  will  venture,  before 

hand  en  t'u    official  documents  shall  have  been  made 

public,  i  u  it. — 1l:at  d  no  period  since  the  establishment  uflhit 

government,  and  in  a  time  of  peace,  has  there  been  any  thing  like'  such 
pt-n...9i.un.  extravagance,  waste,  and  a  ion  -flhe  public  trea- 

sure, a*  have  taken  >>lace  since  his  inditctio    imo  <ke  f;Jjice  of  president. 
The  records  of  the  treasury  tor  the  last  four  years  &  upwards,  will,  when 


24 

. 

recurred  to,  exhibit  a  profligacy  of  expenditure,  a  tissue  ol  impositions'' 
on  the  public,  and  a  list  of  private  delinquencies,  unpuralelled,  certain- 
ly, in  the  history  of  this,  and  probably  in  that  of  any  other  country.  1 
say  this  without  fear  of  contradiction.  I  say  further — L  do  not  believe 
there  is  a  people  on  earth  who  get  so  little  for  their  money,  in  services 
and  supplies,  as  the  good  people  of  the  United  States.  The  fault  ir.ust 
rest  somewhere,  and  it  is  easily  seen  where  it  does  rest.  It  rest-,  in 
the  first  place,  with  ourselves,  in  not  attending,  with  more  vigilance, 
to  the  national  concerns ;  by  not  providing  wholesome  and  efficient 
checks,  to  prevent  collusions  and  fraud;  by  abandoning  fundamental 
principles,  and  adhering  to  men  without  principle  and  without  ca- 
pacity. 

There  appears  to  be  an  actual  delinquency,  as  exhibited  in  the  comp- 
troller's report  to  congress,  on  the  cirit  list  alone  ^  of  :i'x>ut  one  million 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  dollars  ! — a  sum  which,  during  (-re-iem! 
Washington's  ad  mi  lustration,  or  during. the  first  four  years  of  Xir.  Jef- 
ferson's would  have  been  sufficient  to  discharge  the  iviwle  of  the  ex- 
penses of  the  governmr.it  (exclusive  of  the  army  and  navy)  »"o; 
years  !  These,  fellow  citizens,  are  not  mere  assertions  for  party  view- 
er purples  ;  they  are  solemn  truths — facts  upon  record.  And  be  it 
always  rei  rnbered,  that  these  public  defaulters,  (with  a  very  few  ex- 
ceptions here  and  there,  when  a  judgment  has  been  obtained)  pay  us 
?io  interest  on  these  immense  sums  of  money  in  their  hands.  The  in- 
terest alone,  on  the  whole  sum,  which  I  estimate  to  be  actually  due 
from  individuals  to  the  United  States  (twenty  millions,  exclusive  of 
the  land  debt)  would,  if  exacted  and  paid,  be  sufficient,  even  in  these 
times  of  extravagance,  to  defray  for  a  whole  year  the  expenses  of  the 
"  civil  list"  of  the  general  government.  A  few  of  the  delinquents  are 
sued,  perhaps,  for  form,  or  for  shame's  sake ;  and  the  suits  are  suffered 
to  freeze  on  the  docket;  or,  if  the  party  pays  the  money  to  the  marshal, 
or,  more  probably,  to  the  United  States'  attorney,  the  latter  will  (I  will 
not  say  in  quite  "all  cases)  take  care  to  retain  it; — so  that.it  gets  not  into 
the  public  treasury,  even  after  the  original  defaulter  is  compelled  to  de- 
liver it  up.  Witness  the  case  of  Edward  Livingston,  formerly  district 
attorney  for  New  York,  who  has  been  suffered  to  hold  upwards  of  fifty 
thousand  dollars  of  public  money  in  his  hands  for  about  twenty  years  ! 
In  a  word,  such  has  been,  and  such  continues  to  be  the  laxity  of  our 
government, and  the  apathy  of  the  people,  that,  unless  a  radical  change 
in  this  respect  shall  speedily  take  place,  it  requires  no  idio*tto  tell  ns, 
that  we  shall  ere  long,  be  overwhelmed  with  disgrace  and  ruin,  in 
a  few  days  I  intend  to  acquaint  you  with  some  other  facts,  which,  ii 
suffered  to  pass  unheeded,  will,  doubtless,  lead  to  such  a  catastrophe 

A  Native  of  Virginia, 


25 

NO.  xn. 

We  will  leave,  for  awhile,  the  lists  of  public  defaulters,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  noticing  some  other  matters  in  which  the  public  interests  and  the 
public  morals  are  alike  concerned.  I  allude  to  the  extravagant  and  il- 
legal allowances  ot  public  money,  made  by  the  higher  officers  of  the 
general  government,  to  some  of  their  personal  or  political  favorites.  To 
enter  into  a  minute  detail  of  the  cases  of  this  description,  would  occupy 
a  space  far  exceeding  that  to  which  these  essays  are  limited.  It  would 
require,  too,  a  particular  reference  to  books  and  documents,  to  which 
the  writer,  at  this  time,  has  not  access.  A  few  instances  only,  of  this 
kind,  will  be  given,  in  order  that,  from  them,  you  may  form  an  opinion, 
and  judge  of  some  of  the  causes  which  have  led  to  the  present  low  state 
of  the  national  finances.  At  the  same  time  it  ought  to  be  kept  con- 
stantly in  mind,  that  he  who  would  illegally  or  unjustly,  squanderer 
misapply  a  lew  thousand  dollars  of  the  public  money, — would  teel  no 
scruples  of  conscience  in  the  misapplication  of  a  few  hundred  thousand. 
In  the  latter  case,  from  the  magnitude  of  the  sum,  the  fear  of  detection 
might  operate  on  his  mind  ;  and,  therefore,  greater  care  would  be  taken 
to  conceal  his  guilt.  The  moral  feeling,  or  principle,  in  either  case, 
would  be  the  same.  With  most  men  of  loose  and  dishonest  principles, 
their  first  aberrations  from  duty  are,  generally,  trivial.  When  these  are 
suffered  to  pass  over,  without  notice  and  with  impunity,  (I  speak  now 
of  the  public  agents,  or  servants  of  the  people)  they  seldom  or  never  fail 
to  increase  in  their  enormities  until,  at  length,  almost  every  public  act 
of  then*  lives  (especially  in  money  matters,)  is  connected  with  treachery 
and  fraud. 

The  case  on  which  I  now  address  you,  be  assured,  is  one  of  great  in- 
terest &  national  concernment;  becau«e  in  it  is  involved  the  character  and 
the  conduct  of  the  highest  public  functionary  of  the  country,— the  now 
President  of  the  United  States.  To  this  gentleman  i  have  neither  per- 
sonal nor  political  hostility,  (strictly  speaking1,  I  do  not  feel  personal 
hostility  towards  any  man)  and  could  he,  in  the  course  of  my  remarks 
on  the  public  transactions,  have  been  fairly  excluded,  I  should  have  felt 
sincere  gratification — because  he,  in  an  especial  manner,  ought  to  be 
the  most  zealous  and  watchful  for  your  interests.  He  is  bound  byhfe 
honor  and  his  oath,  not  only  «  to  take  care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully 

<  utccl,"  but  he  is  also  bound  to  use  his  utmost  diligence  and  power, 
to  prevent  and  detect  impositions  and  abuses  upon  your  treasury.  If, 
instead  of  doing  this,  he  shall  silently  and  inactively  look  on  and  seje 
the  public  treasure  wasted,  without  attempting  to  punish  or  bring  to 
account  the  perpetrators  of  the  act;  if  he  shall  not  only  sanction  by 
his  silence  those  iniquitous  proceedings,  but  be,  himself,  a  direct  partici- 
pator in  them;— -and  if  all  these  things  can  be  proved  to  have  taken 
place, — surely  every  honest  and  reflecting  man  in  the  nation  must  ex- 
claim, that  his  confidence  in  the  chief  magistrate  has  been  misplaced — - 
that  it  is  high  time  for  the  people  to  betake  themselves  to  thinking,  at 
least,  about  the  manner  in  which  the  national  concerns  have  been,  and 
•are  now  conducted. 

4 


26 

In  the  year  1S14,  Jacob  Barker,  of  Now  York,  and  of  the  noted 
ten-mil1  ion-t  on  n  memory,  "bartered  t0  our  o^vrrnment  hi*  schooner 
*  Chance,'  to  carry  despatches  ^r  the  American  Commissioners,  then  at 
G-^teriburg.  For  this' service  he  was  to  receive  the  sum  of  -;.0«';0  dol- 
lars 5  and,  after  his  arrival  there,  his  agent  was  to  be  at  liberty  to  use 
IipV  as  mijrht  bost  suit  his  purpose—-"  always  conforming  to  the  terms  of 
the  'passnort  unfit  he  thinks  proper  to  surrender  it.'*'  It  was  furti.er 
agreed  oil  the  part,  of  Barker,  that  in  case  the-  American  Commissioners 
at  Gottenburg  should,  wish  to  hire  the  vessel  to  return  with  despatches, 
his  agent  at  t'  .it  M'^ce  would  be  "  disposed  to  make  a  bargain  with 
them  to  do  so'."  And  further,  it  was  agreed,  that  in  case  the  vessel 
should  «  at  any  time  be  dispatched  by  Barkers  agent  for  the  United 
States,  without  his  havivg  made  xuch  contract,  the  captain  is  to  take 
charge  of  any  despatches  the  \merican  Commissioners  may  'wish  to 
send,  and  bring  them  to  the.  United  States,  FREE  OF  EXPENSE."  This 
contract  was  made  in  March  1814 — Barker's  vessel  returned  to  the 
United  .States  the  year  following,  it  is  bel'eved, — -for  is  March  Kilo,  he 
presented  to  the  treasury  another  account  of  3,000  dollars,  for  bringing 
despatches  "from  our  commissioners,  although  it  was  not  pretended  that 
they  had  made  any  "contract  with  his  agent  for  that  purpose,  and  al- 
though he  had  expressly  agreed  that,  in  case  no  such  contract  was  made, 
the  despatches  were  to  be  brought  to  the  United  States,  "free  of  ex- 
pense." And  yet,  in  the  very  teeth  of  this  positive,  plain  stipulation, 
Mr.  Monroe,  secretary  of  state,  sanctions  the  extra  claim  of  5,000  dol- 
lars, and  directs  it  to  be  paid  out  of  the  public  treasury  !  Nay,  more — 
but  a  few  weeks  before  this,  a  Mr.  Connell,  who  came  passenger  in 
Barker's  vessel,  and  who  was  charged  with  the  care  of  the  despatches 
from  our  Commissioners,  was  paid  at  the  treasury,  by  direction  of  .Mr. 
Monroe,  the  sum  of  400  dollars  to  reimburse  him  so  much  money  which 
he  had  paid  for  his  passage  in  the  vessel !  Comment  upon  a  transaction 
like  this  cannot  be  necessary.  If  Barker's  agent  made  any  contract 
whatsoever  with  our  Commissioners  at  Gottenburg,  let  the  fact  be 
stated — let,  the  instrument  be  produced.  When  the  illegal  and  iniqui- 
tous claim  was  admitted,  it  was  not  even  alledged  that  any  such  »<  con- 
tract" had  been  made.  The  public  money  was  thus  most  unrighteous- 
ly and  iniquitous)  y  bestowed  upon  an  adventurous  speculator  and  politi- 
cal demagogue,  who,  at  the  very  time  it  was  paid  to  him,  was  a  public 
defaulter, "to  the  amount,  it  is  believed,  of  between  1  and  200,000 
dollars;  which  had  been  advanced  to  him  for  certain  foreign  bills  of 
exchange  which  he  sold  to  tlie  government — whichvwere  not  accepted,  and 
came  bac!:,  of  course,  protested.  And  it  was  with  the  very  money  thus 
advanced  for  these  bills,  that  Barker  was  assisted  to  make  payment  of 
one  of  the  :r.;;  raiments  on  this  celebrated  ten  million  loan  ' 

It  is  proper  to  add, — that  Baiker  yet  remains  a  public  defaulter 
for  th^  amount  of  money  advanced  him  on  these  protested  bills:  and 
although  a  saitis  now  pending  for  the  recovery  of  the  money,  it  is  be- 
lieved by  many  well  informed  persons,  that  owing  to  some  miserable 
management  of  the  public  agents,  the  United  States  will  be  defeated 
Tn  the  suit. 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


27 


NO.  XIII. 

That  a  frequent  recurrence  to  fundamental  principles  in  all  free 
starts  is  one  of  the  greatest  safeguards  to  the  liberty  of  the  people,  ne 
one  v,i':l.  I  presume,  as  vet,  have  'the  hardihood  publicly  to  deny. 
"Whenever  a  nation  becomes  so  inactive  and  corrupt  as  to  lose  sight  of, 
and  totally  neglect  sudi  an  important  and  salutary  measure,  its  polifi- 
.cal  condition  will  then  have  become  truly  awful  indeed.  It  is  in  times 
like  these  that  cunning,  ambitious  men  lay  the  foundation  for  carrying 
into  effect  their  latent  and  wicked  schemes  of  oppression.  Their  disre- 
ga'-d  of  the  constitution  and  la\vs  of  the  country  are  suffered  to  pass 
unnoticed  and  unchecked;  one  usurpation  of  power  succeeds  to  another 
— until,  at  length,  the  decree  of  the  chief  becomes  the  supreme  law  of 
the  land.  If  this  be  not  true,  all  history  "is  false.  Hence,  then,  I  so- 
lemnly admonish  vou,  as  you  regard  your  liberty  and  happiness,  and  the 
liberty  and  happiness  of  your  posterity,  to  be  on  the  alert — be  .vigilant 
and  watchful.  This  "  era  of  good  feeling"  may  be  one  of  the  most  un- 
propitious  periods  of  your  political  existence.  If  the  fact  which  lam 
now  about  to  record  shall  make  no  impression  on  the  public  mind,  I  for 
one,  am  free  to  declare,  that  I  have  little  or  no  hope  of  the  republic 

The  constitution  of  the  U.  States  has,  distinctly,  marked  out  the 
powers  of  this  federal  government.  To  the  president  it  has  given  the 
command  of  the  army  and  navy,  and  of  the  militia  too  when  m  the  ac- 
tual service  of  the  U.  States.  In  other  words — the  constitution  has  giv- 
en to  the  chief  civil  magistrate  the  SWORD; — but  it  has,  most  wisely, 
withheld  from  him  the  PURSE.  Give  him  the  sword  and  the  purse,  and 
I  would  not  give  you  one  straw  for  your  constitution  or  your  liberty. 
Does  not  every  man  of  common  sense  in  the  country  understand  this  ? 
But  we  will  come,  at  once,  to  the/«cf,  to  which  your  attention  is  now 
particularly  called. — On  the  2d  of  December,  1818,  a  contract  appears 
to  have  been  made  between  the  department  of  war  and  colonel  James 
Johnson  of  Kentucky  by  which  the  latter  wa£  "to  furnish  transportation 
to  the  troops  ordered  up  the  Missouri  river :" — This  is  more  generally 
known  by  the  name  (>{''•  the  Yellow  Stow  expedition"  It  is  here  deem- 
ed proper  to  remark,  that  1  do  not  find  any  law  authorising  an  expedition 
of  this  kind  at  the  public  expense — for  I  will  not  admit,  that  a  mere 
appropriation  of  money  by  congress  for  a  particular  object,  is,  of  itself, 
sum'cient  to  justify  an  expenditure  of  the  public  money  on  that  object. 
To  do  this  rightfully  and  legally,  according  to  the  construction  and  the 
practice  which  prevailed  at  an  early  period  of  our  government,  it  was 
necessary  that  there  should  be  also  a  law  authorising  th.  ^pense.  This 
Mas  the  old-fashioned,  sound  republican  doctrine — now  scouted  and 
laughed  at  by  the  present  incumbents  in  power.  But  it  is,  nevertheless, 
none  the  worse  for  that.  I'nder  this  noted,  and,  I  must  add,  most  ex- 
traordinary contact.  ril'  any  thing  can  be  said  to  be  extraordinary  in 
these  times  orK)rrupi.t(»n  and  fraud]  the  Johnson's — [for  I  must  couple 
the  honorable  senator  from  Kentucky  with  his  brother  James,  because 
he  is  in/rtcf,  although  lie  could  not  be  in  law,  a  party  to  the  contract] — 
drew  Uouiense  sums  of  public  money — to  such  an  amount  that  even  the 
house  of  representative?  of  the  United  States  was  awaked  from  its 


28 

slumber,  and  called  for  some  information  on  the  subject.  The  informa- 
tion \\as  received — it  was  "  ordered  to  lie  on  the  table ;"  and  the  house 
—went  to  sleep  again  ! 

It  appears,  that  from  Feb.  17th,  1819,  to  June  25th  following — a 
period  of  about  four  months,  Mr.  Calhoun,  the  Secretary  of  War,  ad- 
vanced to  Col.  James  Johnson,  singly  for  transporting  the  troops  on  this 
expedition,  no  less  a  sum  than  one  hundred  and  ten  thousand  dollars  ! 
He  then,  as  it  will  appear,  refused  making  any  further  advances — be- 
lieving, no  doubt,  as  well  he  might,  that  those  already  made  were  quite 
sufficient  for  defraying  the  rightful  charges  of  the  expedition  under  the 
contract.  But  it  seems  he  was  altogether  mistaken — for  on  the  arrival 
of  President  Monroe,  at  Lexington,  in  Kentucky,  on  the  5th  July,  1819 
— when  on  his  second  popularity-seeking  tour — he  wrote  to  the  Secre- 
tary of  War  as  follows : 


LEXINGTON,  July  5,  181P. 
«  DEAR  SIR : 

To  prevent  the  loss,  embarrassment  and  disappointment  to 
the  government  and  to  the  country,  which  would  be  the  inevitable  con- 
sequence of  the  failure  of  the  expedition  destined  for  the  mouth  of  the 
Yellow  Stone  river,  it  will  be  necessary  to  make  additional  advances. 
I  have  therefore  to  request.,  that  you  will  advance  to  Colonel  James 
Johnson  FIFTY  THOUSAND  DOLLARS  on  account  of  the  contract  made  by 
him  with  brigadier  general  Jesup,  for  transportation  on  the  Mississippi 
and  Missouri  rivers,  and  that  an  additional  advance  of  FIFTY  THOUSAND 
DOLLARS  be  made  whenever  he  shall  transmit  to  you  transfers,  regularly 
authenticated,  of  the  four  steam  boats  which  he  has  now  employed  in  the 
expedition  to  the  mouth  of  the  Ytllow-stone  river,  as  a  further  se- 
curity." 

'*  The  people  of  the  whole  western  country,  take  a  deep  interest  in 
the  success  of  the  contemplated  establishment  at  the  mouth  of  the  Yel- 
low Stone  river.  They  look  upon  it  as  a  measure  better  calculated  to 
secure  the  peace  of  the  frontier,  to  secure  to  us  the  fur  trade,  &  to  break 
up  the  intercourse  between  the  British  traders  and  the  Indians,  than  any 
other  which  has  been  taken  by  the  government.  1  take  myself  very  great 
interest  in  the  success  of  the  expedition^  and  am  ivilling  to  lake  great 
responsibility  to  insure  it.  With  great  respect,  1  am  your  obedient  serv't. 

[Sifted]  JAMES  MONROE. 

"  P.  b,  r,n  receipt  of  the  transfer  of  the  steam  boats,  yt>u  will  make 
the  advance  ffty  seven  thousand  Jive  hundred  dolhrs,  instead  ol  fifty 
thousand,  as  above  stated. 

[Signed]  JAMES  MONROE." 

Now,  I  ask,  what  right,  constitutionally  or  otherwise,  the  presi- 
dent of  the  U.  S.  has  to  direct  the  public  money  to  be  drawn  out  of  the 
treasury,  except  for  his  own  salary  ?  I  defy  him  or  his  friends  to  show 


29 

that  any  such  riirht  exists.  If  there  be  none — then  the  exercise  of  it  is 
an  usurpation  of  power.  If  he  has  the  right  to  direct  107,500  dollars 
'to  be  taken  out  of  the  treasury,  as  in  the  present  case, — he  lias  an  ecjual 
right  to  direct  ten  millions,  or  the  whole  sum  appropriated  for  the  ser- 
vice of  the  year,  to  be  paid  and  distributed  as  may  best  suit  his  own 
views  and  wishes,  or  for  any  object  in  which  he  may  take  "  great  inter- 
est," and  for  the  accomplishment  of  which  he  would  be  "  willing  to  take 
great  responsibility."  The  principle,  in  either  case,  is  precisely  the 
same.  You  have/ by  the  constitution,  given  him  the  sword,  and  he  has 
seized  upon  the  purse.  Tamely  submit  to  this, — and  rely  upon  it,  you 
may,  ere  long,  in  sober  truth,  prepare  to  "  roll  up  the  parchment  at  the 
point  of  the  bayonet." 

In  my  next,  I  will  state  to  you  some  more  facts  connected  with  this 
affair,  accompanied  by  a  few  remarks  from 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


NO.  XIV. 

In  my  last  communication,  I  pointed  your  attention  to  the  contract 
made  in  behalf  of  the  general  government  with  col.  James  Johnson,  of 
Kentucky,  for  the  transporting  of  troops  and  provisions  up  the  Missouri 
river,  &  the  unjustifiable  &  shameful  advance  of  public  money  directed 
to  be  made  to  that  individual  by  Mr.  Monroe,  the  president 'of  the  U. 
States. — That  you  may  form  some  idea  of  the  waste  of  the  public  trea- 
sure, and  of  the  corruption  of  the  times  in  which  we  live,  I  now  pro- 
ceed to  give  you  some  further  account  of  that  notable  contract,  and  the 
consequences  which  have  resulted  from  it. 

1.  "  Public  notice  was  not  given,  (says  the  quartermaster-general, 
in  his  letter  of  31st  Jan.  1820)  that  proposals  would  be  received  for 
transporting  these  troops  and  provisions  ;"  although  the  law  expressly 
declares  that  '*  all  purchases  and  contracts  for  supplies  or  services, 
which  are  or  may,  according  to  law,  be  made,  by  or  under  the  direction 
of  either  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  the  secretary  oi  var,  or  the  se- 
cretary of  the  navy,  shall  be  made  either  by  open  puic-,..r-  ,  or  by  previ- 
ously advertising  for  proposals  respecting'  the  same. '  Thus,  the  con- 
tract with  col.  Johnson  was  made,  as  it  would  seem,  in  secret — there 
having  been  no  public  notice  whatever  given  of  the  intention  or  wish  of 
the  government  to  make  such  a  contract ;  and  thus,  too,  has  the  law  of 
the  land  been  set  at  naught  and  totally  disregarded,  for  the  purpose  of 
giving  to  an  influential  personage  of  the  west,  a  most  lucrative  and  ad- 
vantageous job,  to  the  exclusion  of  others  who  would  have  undertaken 
it,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  for  about  one-fifth  part  of  the  sum  paid  to 
this  favorite  and  courtier.  And  let  it  be  forever  remembered,  that  this 
most  unlawful  contract  with  Johnson,  was  made  with  the  knowledge* 


30 

and  under  the  immediate  inspection  and  direction  of  president  Monroe. 
whose  constitutional  duty  it  is  "  to  take  care  that  the  laws  are  faithful- 
ly executed."  2  Itis  a  remarkable  fact,  that  in  this  secret  contract, 
with  col.  Johnson,  [for  I  must  call  it  secret,  since  no  public  notice1  was 
given  that  any  such  would  be  made"]  there  is  no  agreement  as  to  the 
specific  amount  of  money  to  be  paid  for  the  service  rendered  :  but.  says 
the  contract,  "the  said  James  Johnson  shall  be  allowed  a  reasonable  com- 
pensation," etc.  And  what  was  this  "  reasonable  compensation" allowed: 
— for  articles  conveyed  in  keel-boats,  he  was  allowed  16$  cents  per  Ib. 
when  no  more  than  jhte  and  a  half  cents  per  Ib.  were  paid  by  the  U. 
States  to  other  persons,  performing,  at  the  same  time,  similar  services! 
"In  order  (says  a  committee  of  congress)  (hat  t>  e  bouse  may  have  all 
the  means  of  judging  of  the  merits  of  this  transaction  between  the  go- 
vernment and  col.  Johnson,  and  to  ^enable  the  nation  fully  to  under- 
stand how  far  economy  has  been  consulted,  a  comparison  between  the 
prices  now  allowed  and  those  given  by  the  arbitrators  to  col.  Johnson, 
was  considered  somewhat  important.5' — The  committee  then  go  on  to 
show,  that,  for  the  year  1821,  (after  public  notice  had  been  given  that 
proposals  for  this  service  would  be  received)  col.  Johnson  became  a  bid- 
der to  transport  military  stores,  &c.  to  the  Council  Bluft's,  at  the  rate  of 
three  and  three  quarters  cents  per  ib. ;  and  yet,  for  the  same  service, 
perfoimedin  1819,  under  the  secret  contract,  be  was  allowed  16  1-4  cts. 
per  Ib.!  "  It  further  appears,  (add  the  committee)  that  among  fourteen 
or  fifteen  bidders  [see  the  effect  of  giving  public  notice,  as  the  law  re- 
quires] but  one  required  over  four  cents  per  Ib.  and  he  less  than  5  cents 
perlb.  Can  further  remark -or  comment  on  this  part  of  this  shameful 
transaction,  be  necessary  ? 

3.  The  appropriation,  in  1819,  for  the  quartermaster's  department, 
(in  which  is  included  the  expense  of  transportation)   Mas  566,000   dol- 
lar^— while  the  expenditures  of  that  department,    for   the  same  year, 
amounted  to  749,248  dollars  67  cents.     Tbis  great  excess  of  expendi- 
ture beyond  the  appropriation  for  the  year,  was.  doubtless,  owing  to  the 
exorbitant  advances  made  to  coL  Johnson,  under  his  secret  contract — 
all  of  which  advances,  from  24th  July  to  8th  Nov.  1819,  were   made  un- 
der authority  of  president .  Monroe's  letter,  dated  "Lexington,  Ken- 
tucky, 5th  Julv,  1819"  a  copy  of  which  is  inserted  in  my  last  number. 

4.  After  giving  col.  Johnson  credit  for  his  exorbitant   demands,  as 
before  stated,  there  still  appears  to  be  due  from  him  to  the  U.  States, 
[not  to  mention  his  contract  for  supplying  the  army  with  provisions']  the 
sum  of  76,372  dollars  65  cents.     This,  however,  will  not  appear  on  the 
list  of  public  defaulters  for  the  next  year,  because  the  balance  will  not 
have  been  due  "for 'more  than  three  "years  prior  to  the  30th  September 
last.'*     And  for  the  recovery  of  this  sum,  no  legal  steps  appear  to  have 
been  taken. 

5.  The  only  security  taken  for  this  money,  appear  to  be  the  steam 
loots  referred  to  in  Mr.  Monroe's  letter,  which  the  Congress  committee 
pronounce  to  be  "broken,  feeble,  and   subject  to  constant  decay  :"   so 
that,  from  every  appearance,  we  may  calculate   on  a   total   loss  of  this 
sum,  as  well  as" between  1    and  200,000  dollars  wrongfully  paid  under 
the  secret  contract  before  mentioned.     But  this  was  a  casein  which  our 
chief  magistrate  took  fi  very  great  interest"  and  in   which  lie  was  wil- 
ling to  tale  "great  responsibility."     Therefore,  the  thing  must   be  all 
right  and  just ;  and  he  that  says  otherwise,  will  be    denounced  as  dis- 
contented, factious,  anU  so  forth.     But  it  such  acts  as  these   can   be 


jfljjmmitted  with  impunity,  do  not  let  us,  I  beseech,  aay  longer  object 
to  that  maxim  in  the  British  constitution,  which  declares  that  *'  THE 
KING  CAN  00  NO  WRONG." 

A  Native  of  Virginia: 


NO.  XV. 

Having,  in  rny  two  last  communications  to  you,  called  your  at- 
tention to  the  conduct  of  our  executive  rulers  relative  to  the  illegal 
contract  made  with  Col.  James  Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  for  the  trans- 
portation of  troops  and  provisions  up  the  Missouri  river;  to  the  ex- 
orbitant and  unconstitutional  advances  of  the  public  money  to  that  in- 
dividual ; — and  to  some  of  the  consequences  which  have  already  flowed 
from  these  iniquitous  proceedings,  I  now  take  the  liberty  of  bringing  to 
your  view  some  other  facts  relating  to  the  war  department,  from  which 
you  may  be  enabled  to  form  an  opinion  for  yourselves  of  the  "  wise  sys- 
tem [_f  quote  the  words  of  the  court  paper — the  National  Intelligencer, 
as  u*e<l  the  other  day]  of  respontibility,  of  competition  and  economy ',  so 
happily  introduced  by  the  present  Secretary"  into  that  department. 

By  the  statement  which  I  shall  now  make  and  exhibit  to  you,  it 
will  be  perceived,  that  the  public  functionaries  have,  without  right  or 
authority  seized  upon  the  public  property  and  public  money  of  the  na- 
tion entrusted  to  their  care,  and  loaned  or  given  the  same  to  individu- 
als— but  for  what  consideration  is,  as  yet,  a  profound  secret:  No  one 
can  know  that,  except  the  parties  directly,  or  indirectly,  concerned. 

1.  To  George  W.  Murray,  of  New  York,  there  was  loaned  of  lead 
belonging  to  the  United  States  the  quantity  of  23  tons,  2  qrs.  and 
10  Ibs. 

3.  To  the  same  G.  W.  Murray,  there  was  subsequently  loaned  of 
lead  belonging  to  the    United  States  tile  quantitv  of  £8  tons,  4  cwt.   3 
qrs.  and  4  Ibs.     This  propetry,  thus  illegal \y  loaned,  has  not  been  re- 
turned ;  and  although  the   loan  was  made  several  years  ago,  no  steps 
appear  to  have  'n  by  t'ie  government  to  recover  back  the  pro- 
perty or  the  value  of  il — and  Murray  is   now  understood  to  be  insol- 
vent. 

There  were  loaned  at  the  City  of  Washington,  to  Messrs.  Stull  & 
\Vi.liauis,  GOO  barrels  of  musket  powder,  containing  60,000  Ibs.— value 
21,600  dollars. — Out  or  the  GOO  barrels  of  pouder  loaned,  200  barrels 
oniy  appear  to  have  beea  returned  by  Stull  &  Williams.  They  be- 
came insolvent. 

4.  To  one  Daniel  Bussard,of  Georgetown,  [D  C.]  there  was  loanf 
ed  or  advanced  by  the   present  Secretary  of  War,  the  sum  of  10,000 
dollars  "  to  enable  him   to  erect   works  on   Point  Creek,  suitable  for 
manufacturing  po\vde»."      This  loan  of  the  public  money  to  Bussard, 
for  tnree  years,  and  "  without  interest"  was  to  enable  him   to  makt 


32 

•   :., 

good  the  deficiency  of  Stull  and  Williams,'  with  whom  lie  was  origin- 
ally concerned. — He  had,  however,  in  February  last,  delivered  but  187 
barrels  of  powder  on  account  of  Stull  and  Williams.  For  the  10,000 
dollars  loaned  to  him,  without  interest,  he  has  promised,  within  three 
years  from  the  date  of  the  loan  to  deliver,  on  his  own  account,  40,000 
pounds  of  powder. 

5.  To  Messrs.  Dupont,  de  Nemours  and  Co.  of  Wilmington,  [Del.) 
there  were  loaned  in  June,  July  and  August,  1817,  the  enormous  quan- 
tity of  three  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty-eight  barrels  of  powder,, 
containing  352,902  pounds.     This  unlawful  loan   appears  to  have  been 
made  by  lieutenant  colonel  Bumford,  with  the  consent  or  by  the  direc- 
tion of  "George  Graham,  then  acting  Secretary  of  War,  now   president 
of  the  United  States  branch  bank  at  Washington  city — and,  doubtless, 
with  the  privity  and  consent  of  his  particular  friend  James  Monroe, 
President  of  the   United  States,    whose  constitutional  duty    it  is,  to 
"  take  care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed."     The  considerations 
which  induced  this  loan  of  the  public  property  are  not  generally  known. 
Certain,  however,  it  is,  that   the  government  or  the  country,  has  re- 
ceived no  pecuniary  advantage  from  it — for  there  remained  unpaid  or 
outstanding,  of  this  loan,  in  February  last,  a  quantity  exceeding  two 
hundred  and  seventy  thousand  pounds  of  powder !     No  compulsory 
steps  appear  to  have  been  taken  to  recover  back  the  property,  or  the 
value  of  it. 

6.  On  the  21st  of  December,  1817,  Colonel  Bumford  and  Mr.  Gra- 
ham, as  above,  loaned  50,000  pounds  of  powder  belonging  to  the  public, 
to  one  Peter  Bauduy,  Panel  took  his  bond  with  security.     No  part  of  this 
property  appears  to  have  been  returned.     The  principle  has  absconded, 
and  the' sureties  are  insolvent.     No  le^al  proceedings  were  ever  insti- 
tuted to  recover  back  the  property  or  its  value.     It  does  not  appear  at 
what  time,  or  whether  there  was  even  ever  a  demand  made  of  Bauduy 
to  return  the  property  loaned. 

7.  To  Israel  Whelan.  of  Philadelphia,  there  appears  to  have  been 
loaned  in  1817,  four  hundred  barrels  of  powder  belonging  to  the  United 
States.     I  cannot   say  whether  this  property  has   been  returned    or 
not. 

8.  To  John  R.  Mifflin,  there  appears  to  have  been  loaned  four  hun- 
dred barrels  of  public  powder.     No  part  of  it  returned— and  the  whole 
supposed  to  be  lost. 

Taking  these  tacts  (which  no  respectable  or  responsible  man  will 
dare  to  deny)  in  connection  with  the  secret  contract  made  between  a 
branch  of  the  war  department  and  Colonel  James  Johnson,  of  Ken- 
tucky, what  *hii;k  ye  now,  Messrs.  Editors  of  the  National  Intelligen- 
cer? Will  y--»  «dll  tell  us  of  the  "  wise  system  of  responsibility — of 
competition  and  economy,  so  happily  introduced"  into  the  war  depart- 
ment. 

Can  it  be  possible  that  the.  people  will,  after  so  many  proofs  and  ex- 
hibitions of  facts  like  these,  continue  to  be  lured  and  gulled  by  mere 
empty  words — to  every  one  of  which  the  facts  in  the  case,  flatly  con- 
tradict or  give  the  lie  ?  If  they  do — then,  indeed,  may  it  be  said — and 
said  truly — "  THEY  ARE  THEIR  OWN  WORST  ENEMIES." 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


NO.  XVI. 

In  the  last  preceding  number  of  these  essays,  you  were  made  ac- 
quainted with  some  extraordinary  facts,  relative  to  the  loss  of  the  pub- 
lic property,  by  means  of  its  having  been  unauthorizedly  and  illegally 
loaned  to  individuals  by  the  executive  officers  who  had  it  in  charge,  and 
who  werf  bound,  by  every  principle  of  honor  and  good  faith,  to  take 
carre  of  and  preserve  it  These  improper  and  unauthorised  proceed- 
ings have,  as  1  contend,  been  virtually  sanctioned  and  approved  by  the 
chief  magistrate  of  the  country.  A  knowledge  of  the  fact  was,  long 
ago,  known  to  him ;  and  in  some  instances,  it  is  believed,  the  act  was 
done  with  his  immediate  approbation  and  concurrence.  But,  at  any 
rate,  he  lias  since  given  his  sanction  to  the  whole,  for  every  officer  [with. 
the  exception  of  one  poor  subaltern,  who  undertook  to  do  what  his  su- 
periors had  done  before]  who  has  been  engaged  in  this  unlawful  business 
stdl  retains  the  confidence  of  the  president  and  enjoys  the  emoluments 
of  hi*  office.  t\'at  on;'  of  them  has  been  called  to  account  for  the  illegal 
deed.  Does  not  this  conclusively  show,  that  the  president  has  uiven  his 
sanction  to  these  unUwful  acts  ?  Nay  more — may  it  not  be  fairly  in- 
ferred that,  as  the  transactions  took  place  at  Washington,  he  was  privy 
to,  and  directed  them  to  be  done  ?  Although  a  very  considerable  pecu- 
niary loss  to  the  country  will  accrue  from  these  breaches  of  the  public 
trust,  yet  that  is  not.  of  so  much  consequence  to  you,  as  the  effects 
which  will  inevitably  be  produced  by  your  sanctioning  acts  and  princi- 
ples of  this  kind.  If  one  description  of  public  property  can  be  loaned, 
or  given  away  by  those  entrusted  with  it,  a  similar  disposition  may  be 
made  of  any  other  description  ,  such,  for  example,  as  the  public  vessels 
and  even  the  public  money.  Indeed,  the  <k  advance,"  as  it  is  called, 
to  Daniel  Bussard,  of  ten  thousand  dollars,  as  stated  in  my  last  num- 
ber, was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  a  LOAN  of  the  public  money, 
without  the  shadow  of  right  or  of  law  to  justify  it.  I  defy  the  ingenui- 
ty of  man  to  .show,  that  there  was  either  right  or  law  to  do  this,  or  that 
Congress  ever  made  any  appropriation  for  sue*  an  object.  And  yet  the 
thing  has  been  done,  and  the  fact  is  upon  record, — notwithstanding  the 
constitution  declares  that vi  no  money  shall  be  drawn  from  the  treasury 
except  on  appropriations  made  by  law."  But_it  does  most  unfortunate* 
ly  happen,  that  in  this  '  era  of  good  feeling,'  [as  Mr.  Monroe  expresses 
it]  neither  the  constitution  nor  the  laws  appear  to  be  much  regarded. 
The  plain,  honest,  independent  spirit  of  this  people  seems  to  have  en- 
tirely left  them.  Instead  of  adhering  steadily  and  steadfastly  to  prin- 

3,  such  as  brought  them  into  national  existence, — f hey  are  fawning 
and  clinging  to  men — because  these  men  are  in  povve ••  : expense  favors, 
and  distribute  "  the  loaves  and  fishes!"  Thus,  instead  of  guarding  our 
ri.hts  by  keeping  a  vigilant  watch  over  those  whom  we  have  entrusted 
with  the  Bfttional  concerns,  and  punishing  by  our  displeasure  and  dis- 
approbation [if  nothing  more]  every  wilful  abberration  from  duty  or  vio- 
lation of  trust, — we  suffer  ourselves  to  be  lulled  to  sleep,  and  repose, 
while  '-the  wolves  in  sheep's  cloathing"  are  secretly  laying  their  plans 
for  our  destruction.  The  thirst  for  speculation  and  for  office,  seems  to 
me  to  have  wrought  an  almost  entire  change  in  the  manners,  habits  and 
principles  oi  the  American  people.  This  disposition  increases;  it  would 

5 


34 

seem,  with  the  extent  and  increase  of  the  executive  patronage;  raid  this 
will  always,  in  my  opinion,  be  the  case,  so  long  as  we  continue  the  pre- 
sent irresponsible  practice  of  revenue;  not  by  taxes,  fairly,  openly  and 
honestly  laid,  but  by  arch  cnnnin;',  trick  and  legerdemain.  This  busi- 
ness has  been  so  dexterously  <  by  the  great  political  ju£: 
that  in  some  respects,  the  federal  government  has  become  almost  alien 
to  the  gre:»t  body  of  the  people.  They  never  reflect  or  think  about  the 
waste  and  extravagance  (to  say  nothing  worse)  of  those  who  disburse 
the  public  money  :  because  it  is  not  drawn  directly  from  their  pockets. 
1  p'.it .to  you  these  plum  questions  :  Had  the  vast  sums  which  have 
been  extravagantly,  and  i  will  add  illegally  "advanced"  tj.-  individuals 
who  will  not,  because  they  now  cannot,  return  it,  been  drav/n  directly 
from  your  pockets  in  the  way  of  taxes,  would  you  patiently  submit  to  it; 
without  murmur,  and  not  even  institute  an  enquiry  into  the  matter  ? 
Would  you,  if  the  President  were  publicly  anil  solemnly  to  proclaim 
to  yon  and  to  the  world,  that  so  mauy  millions  of  the  public  debt  had 
been  paid  off  "  without  any  burthen  upon  the  people."  believe  him  ? 
Would  you,  [if  you  paid  your  taxes  directly]  agree  to  keep  up  your 
present  expensive  establishments  with  all  tae  waste,  profusion  and  dis- 
honest practices  attached  to  them,  and  P.ORROW  money,  besides,  to 
support  and  maintain  them  ?  To  each  of  these  question-,  every  sensi- 
ble, honest,  and  discreet  man  in  the  nation  will,  I  am  sure,  unhesitat- 
ingly answer, — No!  Why,  then,  would  you  give  a  different  answer 
because  your  taxes  are  drav/n  from  you  indirectly^  they  being  dexter- 
ously stuck  into  the  price  of  most  of  the  tilings  you  purchase,  any  of 
which  have  become  necessaries  of  life  .?  Were  you  to  reflect  and  think 
a  little  on  the  subject,  your  answer  would  be  the  same  in  both  cases. 
To  suppose  that  a  large  annual  revenue  can  be  raised  in  a  state  "with- 
out any  burthens  upon  the  people/'  is  almost  to  suppose  an  impossibility; 
and  the  man  [!  care  not  how  high  his  station,  and  the  higher  the  worse 
for  him]  who  endeavors  to  impose  upon  you  such  an  absurdity,  is,  and 
will  be  so  pronounced  by  impartial  posterity,  a  deceiver  and  a  hypocrite. 
These  are  no  times  for  mincing  words.  It  is  high  time  that  men  as  well 
as  things  should  be  called  by  their  proper  names.  I  have  before  remark- 
ed, that  I  am  no  party  man,  in  the  common  acceptation  of  the  term.  I 
have  nothing  to  ask,  toev)ect,  or  to  /e#r,  from  any  party  in  power,  so 
long  as  the  present  constitution  .stands.  I  care  not  to  which  party  a  pub- 
lic delinquent  or  defaulter  beiongs  ;  whether  he  be  a  federalist,  republi- 
can, democrat,  or  jacobin;  whether  he  be  in  hi^h  or  io»;  t  will 
pursue  him  through  the  labyrinths  of  his  iniquitous  procaMII  ;l  hold 
him  up  to  public  indignation.  I  will  bind  the  victi 


up  to  public  indignation.     I  will  bind  the  victim  and  drag  him  to 
the  altar,     liis  escape  or  punishment  will  rest  with  you. 

But  I  am  [imperceptibly  almost]  led  from  mv  main  design  ;  which 
was  simply  to  state  facts,  and  leave  to  others  the  ta- 
inferences  frot  \  *hem.     When  i  commenced  the  present  n  .    it  was 

with  a  view  of  noticing  a  few  more  illegal  acts  of  the  war  department, 
from  which  the  public  may  have  a  still  further  opportunity  of  judging  of 
the  "  wise  system  of  responsibility,  of  competition  and  economy," 
which  Messrs.  Gales  and  oea  on  tell  us  has  been  »'  so  happily  introduc- 
ed" into  that  department ;  but  I  find  that  todoth!i,  now  would  extend 
this  communication  beyond  the  limits  prescribed  for  it.  The  subject  of 
abuses  in  the  war  department,  is  therefore  for  the  present  deterred,  but 
will  be  resumed  in  my  next  number. 

A  Native  of  \irginia. 


NO.  XVII. 

I  do  not  believe  that  a  single  newspaper  in  the  United  State*  has 


ne         ae*    as 

pubKshed  the  report  of  the  Committee  of  the  House  of  RepresenMves 
on  WUitarV  affairs^  of  the  1'th  February  last,  «  upon  the  subject  ofSS 
employment  of  officers  ,'n  the  army,  as  clerks  in  the  departments,  and 
^  extra  pay  allowed  to  then,  for  such  Service.     HOW  this  has  ham  -  n 
ed  I  wd    not  pretend  to  say.     Not  only  the  report  above    me  t  one 
has  not  been  publ.shed,  (at.  least  1  have  never  heard  ,,f  its  havinu  bee 
published    hut  there  are  several  other  most  important  public  document 

f  a   sum  ar  nature,  exhibiting  the  conduct  of  our  executive  rulers  in 
matters  of  v.tal  importance  to  the  people  at  |aw,   which,    1  believe 
have  never  been  published  in  any  of  the'  public  journals  of  th.  c  mm  fry 
1  hese  reports,   ,t  s  true,  have  been  rrinted  for  the  u«e  of  the  Z  ,1' 
but  they  have  never  been  circulated,  as  they  ought  to  have  been,  for  the 
information  of  the   people  generally.     Our  gazettes  have  been  filled! 
page  after  page,  vith  the  fulsome  addresses  to  «  The  Queen"—  fas  we 
were  wont  to  call  the  half  repudiated  wife  of  the  British  Kin,,    n  this 
country)  with  the  dis^sting  c&cetnties  of  her  trial;  with  «  The  iYi  n  J's" 
coronation,   and  so  fortl.-to  the    exclusion  of  highly  important  state 
papers,  which  ought  to  be  in  the  hands  of  every  intelligent  fVe^ann 
he  country      Home  printers  of  newspapers  are  more  excusable,  I  admih 
than  others,  for  tins  apparent  neglect  in  all-bccause  some  cannot,  wit  - 
much  trouble,  and  some  expense,  obtain  the  original  printed  docu- 
from  the  seat  of  the  general  government.     But  what  shall  we  say 
f  the  ,    .tors  of  the  -  government  paper"  as  the  •«  National  IntellijW- 
is  generally  and  correctly  called,  in  this  resnect  ?     These  editors 
are  the  pnnters  for  both  Houses  of  Congress.,  From  them  esp^c  iaL 
we  have  a  ?  right  to  expect  full  and  prompt  information  on  all  subjects 
.  connecced  with  the  federal-  administration.     Indeed,  in  their  published 
3ctus  they  declare    among  other  things,  that,  the  "National  Intel- 
jencer    pub  originally,  the  "proceedings  and  debates  of  Con- 

ains,  also,  all  the  state  papers  and  documents  of  public 
ore  Congress,  or  originating  in  that  body."     Now  I 
n.  published  in  that  paper,  or  any  other,   two  re- 
:tee  from  the  House  of  Representatives  relative 
lames   Johnson,  of  Kentucky,  for   transporting 
-or  the  report  of  another  committee,  last  yea? 
abuses,  by  the  unauthorised  and  illegal  loan  of 
other  public  property,  and  the  consequent  loss 
i  (  the  Military  committee  abovementioned, 
h  could  he  named  ?     Who  has  ever  seen  a  re- 
ton,  a  member  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
herein,   in  a  voice  of  thunder,   he  bearded  'he 
n  /ys  palace,  (or  having  made  for  public  account,  an  nnau- 
loan  from  one  of  tlie  bank,,  and  for  hiving  weeded  the  appro- 
opriarioni^  by  (Jon^ress    for  the  Presidents   household.     N.  B. 
|  r  J^mston  was  a  lawyer  in  one  of  the  interior  counties  of 

'g'nia;  ami  a  few  weeks  alter  he  had  made  this  direct  attack  upon 
m.  Monroe  he  was  made  collector  of  the  custom,  at  the  port  of  AW- 


36 

•folk — although  it  is  highly  probable,  that,  before  his  induction  into  that 
office,  he  had  never  seen  "  a  Clearance-'  or  <;  a  Manifest.'* 

But  we  will  return  to  the  report  of  the  committee  on  Military  af- 
fairs.— It  is  too  lengthy  to  be  inserted,  entire,  in  the  present  communi- 
cation. I  will  give  you  the  substance  of  it.  The  committee  ascertain- 
ed and  reported  that  no  less  than  fift een  officers  of  the  army,  of  drver- 
ent  grades,  were  employed  as  clerks  in  the  different  departments  at 
Washington  ;  and  for  that  service  were  "  detailed  by  order  of  the  \var 
department."  The  aggregate  amount  of  money  paid,  in  "-a  very  short 
time,  for  these  "extra" services, is  they  are  called,  amounts  to  $9,753  50 
Cents;  their  pay  and  emoluments  as  officers  in  the  army,  were,  at  the 
same  time,  received  by  them.  On  tins  head  the.  committee  remark  : 
*  The  statemfnts  furnished  them,  shew,  that,  in  addition  to  the  pay  and 
emoluments  [as  army  officers]  and  extra  compensation,  euch  of  the 
abovenamed  officers  have  received  payment  for  cloathing!  The  com- 
mittee are  unadvised  of  any  law  to  justify  it,  especially  when  they  see 
neither  of  them  has  employed  a  private  servant,  and  for  the  cloathmgof 
whom  only  is  an  officer  permitted  to  receive  money  in  lieu  of  cloath- 
ing."  The  committee,  in  conclusion  of  this  part  of  the  subject,  further 
remark :  "  lYhen  an  officer  is  detailed  to  perform  duties  in  the  depart- 
ments,such  as  have  been  described,  they  cease  to  render  any  other  ; 
when  they  perform  no  duties  as  officers,  but  merely  act  as  clerks,  it 
seems  unreasonable  to  pay  them  as  officers,  and,  at  the  same  time,  com- 
pensation as  clerks.  When  they  cease  to  perform  the  functions  of  offi- 
cers, but  yet  receive  their  pay  and  emoluments,  the  committee  believe 
they  should  be  content;  that  they  have  no  legal  or  equitable  claim  to 
extra  compensation,  because  extra  payment  is  predicated  on  a  supposi- 
tion that  additional  duties  are  performed.  In  the  present  case,  the  sup 
posed  additional  duty  is  the  only  service  required  of  them,  and  that,  in 
reality,  they  perform  no  set  vice  whatever  as  officers  of  the  army. 

On  the  subject  of  compensation    allowed  to  the  surgeon    general 
of  the  army,  the  committee  go  on  and  make  the  following  statement : 
"  The  committee  thought  it  incumbent  on  them  to  extend  their  enquiries 
to  the  compensation  allowed  the  surgeon  general,  in  addition  to  his  sala- 
ry fixed  by  law.     They  find  from  the  statement  furnished  by  the  third 
auditor,  that  Doctor  Joseph  Lovell.the  surgeon  general,  lias  bee 
:n  addition  to  his  annual  salary,,  from  the  1st  of  October,  1818,  to  .! 
Sept.  1820.  four  quarters.  864  dollars;  and   for  fuel  for  the  same  pe- 
riod, 452  dollars  25  cents,  making  an  aggregate   of  1,316  doila 

ts.    The  act  of  Congress  establishing  the  office  of  - 
provides,  -hat  he  shall  be  allowed  a  salary  of  2,580  dollars,  inaki; 
provision  for  any  other  or  extra  compensation.  : 
prised  that  a  construction  should  be  given  to  this  law,  by  which  th- 

general  shall  be  enabled  to  receive  compel;  -.  limit*: 

lis  salary,  unless  they  bring  to  their  uid  the  practice  which  av 
at  all  times  to  have  prevailed  "in  some  shape  or  of!,'-;'"  [quoti; 
words  of  the  secretary  of  war]  to  allow  the  officers,  at  the  seat  of  go- 

:iiient,  extra  compensation." 

It  the  woiu  .iitlfu  v    (continue  the  committee)    lias  an  appropriate 
meaning,  it  certainly  must  be  a  stated  or  settled  hire  to  the  person  who 
-  performs  the  duties  of  the  office  to  which  the  salary  is  attached  :  no  au- 
thority in  this  government,  except  the  legislative,  is  deemed  competent 
either  to  increase  or  diminish  it.     [Sound,  old-fashioned  reasoning  thi-.l 


£7 

The  committee   are  of  opinion,  that  no  precedent,  contrary   to  law, 
,  or  can  have  a  binding  influence.     The  case  of  the  physician  and 
su!!_nM»n  general  adverted  to  by  the  secretary  of  \var,  was  erroneous  in 
the  beginning,  mid  not  an  example  worthy  of  imitatioy," 

The  committee  proceed  :  "  [t  is  alledged  by  the  secretary  of  war, 
in  justification  of  (he  extra  allowance  made  the,  surgeon  general,  that  it 
hardly  admits  of  a  doubt.  that  lie,  who  is  liable  to  be  ordered  into  ac- 
tive service,  would  be  entitled  to  claim  public  quarters,  if  there  were 
such  whore  he  might  be  stationed,  and  that  it  is  clear  he,  in  common 
with  other  officers,  has  a  right  to  Ihe  allowance  for  them  if  he  should  be 
stationed  where  quarters  cannot  be  furnished  by  the  public.  It  appears 
to  the  committee,  this  argument  is  more  specious  than  solid  ;  (weak  and 
puerile  they  might  have  said) — the  law  provides,  that  other  officers  shall 
receive  pay  and  emoluments,  and  enumerates  qua,Tter s and  fuel  as  arti- 
cles included  in  the  provision  intended  to  be  made; — but  in  the  case  of 
the  surgeon  general,  the  law  provides  a  salary  of  2,500  dollars,  which 
the.  committee  think,  and  which  they  believe  the  legislature  thought, 
should  be  in  full  for  all  services,  lithe  surgeon  general  would  bo  en- 
titled to  quarters  &  fuel  when  ordered  into  active  service,  it  is  not  under- 
stood by  the  committee  how  his  liability  to  be, ordered  into  active  service, 
could  entitle  him  to  compensation  for  them  before  that  liability  attached. 
If  an  officer  is  entitled  to  either  pay  or  emoluments  upon  the  contingency 
of  being  ordered  into  active  service,  it  seems  an  arbitrary  construction  to 
grant  him  cither,  before  the  happening  of  that  contingency. — In  no 
point  of  view  can  the  committee  perceive  the  propriety  of  this  allowance, 
which  as  yet  does  not  appear  to  be  supported  even  by  the  authority  of 
precedent." 

Such,  fellow  citizens,  is  the  report,  and  such  the  views  of  some  of 
your  immediate    Representatives  in  Congress,  of  the  proceedings  and 
conduct  of  an  important  branch  of  the  government,   placed  by  the  law 
which  established   it.  under  the  immediate  and  direct  control  of  the 
.President.     In  further  proof  that  the  law  never  intended  to  give  to  the 
•  surgeon  general  any  other  compensation    for  his  services  than  the  an- 
Tiu  a  I  salary  of  3,500  dollars,  let  it  be  remembered  that  the  secretary  of 
of  war  himself,  in  the  annual  estimates  for  the  expenses  of  our  military 
:ient,  asks  for  2,500  dollars  only  for  compensation  to  the  sur- 
geon '^enrrai,  without  requesting  a  cent  for  <;  fuel  or  quarters"  or  any 
He  well   knew  that,  under  the  existing    laws.   Congress 
.  iate  for  any  thing  beyond  the  salary  allowed.     [See 
ilie   anuu  for  appropriations,  &c.]     But   there  are  many 

•  laws,  or',  in  homely  phraseology,  "  of  whipping  the 
devil  iT.ui,  .mp."'     All   of  which   our  rnlers  seem  to  understand 

v\e.l!.     The  large    sums   appropriated  for  "  cu^tin^enclff" 
ample  scope  for  the  exercise  of  their  ingenuity  in  disposing  of  the  public 

ure  committed  to  their  charge,  and  as  may  best  suit  thei- 
and  •  But  \\hat  is  here  stated  is  trifling  compared  to  some 

other  -'Im-h  will,   which  wiist  appear  before    the   public  MI  due 

lime.     The.  alarm  has  been  given.     The  rv:»vLK  are  begum's.' 
iheii  eyes  and  to  think.     V.  i to  those   who  have 

abused  their  generous  confidence.     The  awful  ;s  no! 

so  far  distant  as  many  imagine.     It  is  the.  bounderi  u;nv  of 
est  man  in  the  nation  to  -aid  In  the  great  work  of  reformation*.     ! 
be  my  especial  care,  if  life  and  healfh  permit,  not  to  Hag  or  '-cU*;  in  my 


present  undertaking,   until    a  complete  exposure  shall  have  been  ef- 
fected. 

A  Native  of  Virginia, 

P.  S.  The  office  of  surgeon  general  is  now  and  has  for  some 
time  been  a  complete  sinecure.  I  am  credibly  informed,  that  for  the 
disbursement  of  about  30,000  dollars  in  this  department,  it  cost  the 
public  about  10,000  dollars.  Here  then,  is  a  much  heaver  and  more 
expensive  "  Drone"  than  any  that  has  yet  been  exhibited  to  public 
view.  But  whenever  a  proper  investigation  shall  take  place,  they  will 
be  found  to  exist  "  as  plenty  as  blackberries"  in  their  season.  Did  any 
body  ever  hear  ot  our  present  chief  magistrate  recommending  to  Con- 
gress the  abolishing  of  an  office  ?  What  he  will  say  next  week,  in  his 
message  on  the  subject  I  know  not.  He  would  willingly  .tell  us,  no 
doubt,  if  he  could,  how  much  of  the  public  debt  has  been  paid  off' this 
year.  He  will,  however,  tell  us  how  much  money  was  in  the  treasury 
on  the  30th  September  last :  but  he  will  not  toll  us  how  much  of  this 
was  "  available  funds."  He  will  not  tell  us,  (1  think  lie  will  not)  that 
there  is,  at  this  time*  one  dollar  of  available  cash  in  the  treasury — nor 
will  he  tell  us  how  much  the  government  has  overdrawn  upon  tlie  Uni- 
ted States'  Bank,  to  "  keep  the  wheels  of  government"  in  motion.  But 
all  things  will,  nevertheless,  and  in  due  season  be  found  out. 

December  1,  1821. 


NO.  XVIII. 


The  two  most  prominent  candidates  for  the  next  pr 
Mr.  Adams,  Secretary  of  State,  and    Mr.   Crawford,  Secretary-  o        e 
Treasury.     To  enable  you  to  make  some  estimate  01   the  relative  • 
its  of  these  two  personages,  and  of  their  fitness  for  i  ••  siation  to  which 
each  of  them  aspires,  it  may  be  well  for  you   seriousljuto  ^rjHI 

facts  stated  in  this  communication. 

The  official  situation  of  the  Secretary  of 

able,  at  this  juncture,  to  his  becoming-  the  most    popular  member  of  the 
administration.     He  has  nothing  to.  Jo  with  provide  wavs  and 

means"  for  the  support  of  the  government,  and  but  little  agency  in  dis- 
bursing the  public  money,  on  account  of  which  inch  enormous  ab 
and  defalcations  have  taken  place,  and  respecting  \vhj&  the  pub!; 
ttntion  has  at  length,  been  roused.     Nor  has  he  at  this  time,  any  dij,  So- 
matic business  of  :nucii  importance  to  transact.     The  only  ways   and 
means,  therefore,  which  he    has  to   contemplate  or   devise,  are   those 
•which  will  be  the  most  likely  to  discomfit  his  competitors  and  place  him- 
self in  power,     in  this  respect  he  is  following  the  plan  of  some  of  his 
illustrious  predecessors.     They  found  out.  that  the  right    v,  ay  to  the 


39 

hearts  of  the  most  influential  members  of  congress  was  directly  down 
ihroats;  hence  we  now  see  this  economical,  if  not  penurious.  New 
uid  gentleman  making  levees,  and  giving  f paste  twice  and  tlirice  ai 
week,  at  an  expense,  as  every  body  must  know,  far  beyond  the  income 
from  his  office.  Cannot  even  the  veriest  simpleton  in  the  country  per- 
fectly understand  this?  But  I  admit  that,  abstractedly,  we  have  no- 
thing; to-do  with  Mr.  Adams' parties,  or  his  expenses;  ami  had  it  not 
been  that  1  had  something  else  to  say  about  him,  in  which  the  people 
are.  concerned,  1  should  never  have  written  a  word  about  him  or  his  en- 
ter tain  rriunts. 

I  hava  already  said,  that  Mr.  Adams  has  but  little  agency  in  dis- 
bursing the  public  money — there  being,  comparatively  speaking,  but 
little  placed  under  the  control  of  the  department  of  state.  But  as,  (ac- 
cording to  vulgar  saying)  "•  straws  will  sometimes  show  us  which  way 
iho  wind  blows,"  we  maybe  enabled  to  form  a  tolerably  correct  opinion 
of  what  he  would  do,  in  this  respect,  were  the  power  and  the  means 
in  his  possession.  The  principal  appropriations  of  public  money  on 
which  the  Secretary  of  State  lias  the  privilege  of  drawing,  by  way  of 
"  advances,"  are,  those  for  diplomatic  purposes,  including  all  foreign 
intercourse — the  contingent  expenses  of  the  Secretary  of  States'  office, 
and  for  taking  the  census — amounting,  altogether,  to  not  more  than  half 
a  million  of  dollars. 

Now,  I  would  ask,  with  what  propriety,  or  from  what  motive,  the 
Secretary  of  State  recently  drew  about  100,000  dollars  out  of  the  public 
treasury — or,  what  is  the  same  thing,  out  of  the  Branch  Bank  at 
Washington,  where  the  money  was  deposited,  to  the  credit  of  the  Trea- 
surer of  the  United  States — anil  placed  it  in  the  Bank  of  the  Metropo- 
lis ?  That  he  did  so  I  have  no  doubt — for  the  fact  was  communicated  to 
me  from  the  very  best  authority.  The  local  banks  of  the  District  of 
Columbia  have  no  right  to  have  the  public  money  deposited  in  them, 
either  to  Mr.  Adams' credit,  or  to  the  credit  of  any  body  else — with  the 
exception,  perhaps,  of  one  bank  only,  in  Alexandria,  where  it  may  be 
more  convenient  to  collect  the  custom  house  bonds.  Whether  this  mo- 
ney, therefore,  was,  after  it  was  drawn  from  the  treasury,  placed  to 
!Vlr.  Adams'  individual  credit,  or  to  the  credit  of  the  treasurer  of  the 
United  States,  the  act  was  incorrect  and  illegal.  But  if  the  fact  be  as 
it  has  been  seated  to  me,  and  of  which  I  have  no  doubt,  the  money  was, 
immediately  aftt-r  it  v.  a.- drawn,  entirely  out  of  the  control  of  the  trea- 
sury,  and  cannot  e\>:!i  help  to  eke  out  the  amount  which  we  have  decep- 
late  message  of  the  President,  will  be  in  the 

Treasury  on  the  first  day  of  January  next.     But  why,  it  will  be  asked, 

o  be  thus  friendly  disposed   to  the  Bank  of 
he  has  been  a  dealer  in  stocks  in  the  local 
>r  some,  time  been  a  Director  in  the  Bank 
This  \\ill  account  for  the  whole  proceeding:    And 
alNi:  ,  not  think  highly  of  his  foresight  or  sagacity  in 

ears  ago  at  par,  stock  which  is  now  about  25  percent 
nit — that  is  no  immediate  concern  of  the  people — except  in  so  far 
as  it  may  e  MU  to  form  some  *mall  estimate  of  the  sound  judg- 

ment and  discretion  of  one  who  aspires  to  be  their  chief  ruler.  But,  it 
muy  be  asked,  admitting  that  the  Secretary  of  State  has  done  all  this, 
what  injury  will  the  public  sustain  by  it  ?  The  amount  of  money  here 
spoken  of,  it  is  true,  is  not  very  large* — not  exceeding,  perhaps,  one 


40 

hundred  thousand  dollars — therefore,  in  this  particular  case,  uo  very 
great  injury  could  arise,  except  that,  by  sanctioning  abuses  and  illegal 
acts  of  this  sort,  others  may  be  tempted  to  "go  a  d  do  likewise,"  un- 
til at  last  the  "wheels  of  government'"  might  stop  for  want  of  the  where- 
withal to  make  them  move.  Indeed  it  is  a  solemn  fact,  and  upon  record 
that  the  public  treasure  of  the  nation  does  some  how  or  another,  find  its 
wa^y  into  almost  every  local  banking  institution,  [and  many  of  them  rot- 
ten to  the  core]  where  individual  public  agents  happen  to  be  either  Pre- 
sidents or  Directors,  or  Stockholders;  or  connected  with  the  said  Presi- 
dents, Directors,  and  Stockholders  of  the  said  institutions.  This  will 
account  for  the  continued  increase  of  the  "unavailable  funds"  which  our 
rulers  have,  [but  very  lately^  discovered  to  be  on  hand;  and  also  for  the 
overdrawing*  of  the  Treasury  on  the  United  States'  Bank;  for  wi-it.ii 
the  public  is  charged  with  interest,  let  who  will  say  to  the  contrary. 
All  this  inconvenience  and  expense,  not  to  mention  the  loss  of  public 
character,  and  the  prostration  of  the  public  morals,  might  have  been  pre- 
vented by  pursuing  .»  plain,  honest  and  legal  course  ;  such  a  one  as  every 
man  of  common  feeling  and  integrity  would  advise  his  son  or  his  friend 
to  pursue  in  his  intercourse  with  the  world.  But  it  seems  that  every 
thing  must  be  done  by  our  great  folks,  our  politicians  and  office  seekers, 
by  trick  and  by  management — taking  it  for  granted,  as  it  would  seem, 
that  common  sense,  and  common  honesty  too,  have  fled  the  land. 

For  the  present  I  take  my  leave  of  the  Secretary  of  State  for  the 
purpose  of  paying  my  respects  to  his  opponent,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury. 

it  is  a  trite  saying,  and,  in  the  general,  I  believe,  a  true  one — that 
<{  a  house  divided  against  itself  must  fall.'" — That  there  is  a  schism  in 
our  4i  Cabinet,"  there  can,  I  imagine,  be  no  doubt.  This  may  remind 
us  of  another  adage,  equally  portentous  to  these  great  combatants — that 
"when  ******  fall  out  honest  men  come  by  their  own."  That  either  of 
these  gentlemen  will  ever  realize  the  expectation  which  he  may  now 
have  of  being  elected  to  the  Presidential  chair,  1  have  not  the  most  re- 
mote idea.  For,  in  despite  of  all  the  exertions,  the  management,  the 
tuistin^s  and  twiniugs  that  can  be  made  to  conceal  them,  many  of  the 
foul  and  corrupt  deeds  which  have  disgraced  the  administration  of  our 
affairs  for  many  years  past  will — nay,  must  come  to  light.  The  foun- 
dation on  which  our  high  political  i  ulers  rest  is  rotten.  It  cannot  long 
support  them.  The  thick  veil  which  covers  the  -s  of  the  present 

age  h  :s   already    been   pierced.     The  people  cannot  be   much    longer 
duped      The  day  of  retribution  is  nearer  at  hand  titan  many  imagine. 
The  common  sense  of  the  nation  cannot  much  longer  sleep.     1  beg 
don  for  making  this  digression.     Let  us  now  to  the  t; 

In  casting  my  eye  over  a  public  document,  whici.,  I  fear,  even  our 
members  of  Congress  do  not  sufficiently  scan,  containing  an  account  of 
receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  United  Mutes  for  a  jiiven  period  of 
time — 1  was  struck  with  an  item  among  the  receipts  of  •*  Interest  re- 
ceived from  Banks."  This  being  a  IK-W  source  of  revenue,  (IK- 
me  at  least) — seeing  there  was  no  1'iw  for  loaning  the  public  money  to 
Banks,  nor  authorising  any  other  dealings  uith  them,  my  inclination  led 
me  to  make  some  inquiry  into  the  matter.  Among  other  objectionable 
and  highly  culpable  things,  1  have  discovered  that  Mr.  Crawford,  as 
Secretary  of  the  united  States' Treasury,  had  actually  loaned  to  the 
Central  Bank  of  Washington  and  Georgetown,  about  forty  thousand 


41 

dollars,  at  one  time,  of  the  public  money,  and  this  too  at  a  period  when 
the  -nost  abominable  frauds  were  committed  on  or  in  that  institution  by 
the  receipt  of  between  thirty  or  forty  thousand  dollars  of  its  own  notes, 
[nM  <>f  one  denomination,  to  wit)  100  dollars]  by  its  own  officers  ,  and 
which  notes,  as  since  all  edged,  were  all  counterfeits!  The  run  on  the 
bank  was  so  great,  T  understand,  bv  the  presentation  for  payment  of 
these  spurious  notes,  that  application  was  made  to  the  United  States' 
Treasury  for  aid.  The  required  aid,  it  seems,  was  given  ;  and  thus  the 
people's  money  was  most  unworthily  and  illegally  employed  to  keep  up 
the  tottering  credit,  of  an  ill-managed,  if  not  rotten  institution  !  Now, 
I  ask,  where  is  to  be  found  the  law  or  the  authority  to  justify  a  proceed- 
ing of  this  kind  ?  Perhaps,  we  may  be  told,  that  this  was  not  a  formal 
loan  of  motiey,  because  it  was  a  transfer  of  so  much  from  the  account  of 
the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States  in  the  Branch  Bank,  to  an  account, 
to  be  opened,  or  already  opened,  if  you  please,  in  the  name  ot  the  said 
Treasurer,  on  the  books  of  the  Central  Bank.  Be  it  so, — this  does  not 
in  the  least,  change  the  nature  of  the  transaction — for  the  money  was 
deposited  in  the  latter  Bank  to  enable  it  to  meet  the  pressure  which 
was  made  upon  it;  and  therefore  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
A  LOAN — the  whole  of  which  is  not  paid  to  this  day,  or,  at  any  rate,  was 
not  four  weeks  ago.  If  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  can  rightfully 
cause  an  account  to  be  opened  in  whatever  bank  or  place  he  pleases,  in, 
t!v-  name  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  and  then  direct  the  pub- 
lic treasure  to  be  taken  from  the  legitimate  place  of  deposite,  and  trans- 
ferred to  such  a  bank  or  place,  it  will  give  him  complete  and  absolute 
power  and  control  over  the  national  revenue.  There  need,  in  such 
case,  be  no  law  directing  where  the  public  monies  shall  be  lodged  for 
safe  keeping  ;  and  the  constitutional  provision  that  "  no  money  shall  be 
drawn  from  the  Treasury  but  in  consequence  of  appropriations  made  by 
law,"  will  become  a  mere  nullity  and  dead  letter.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances and  practices,  every  available  dollar  in  the  public  treasury 
might  betaken  out  of  it.  while,  at  the  same  time,  the  apparent  balance 
in  it,  made  up,  as  it  now  is,  from  accounts  and  exhibited  on  paper, 
might  amount  to  several  millions  of  dollars.  '1  his  is  all  perfectly  fa- 
miliar to  those  members  of  Congress  and  others  who  are  conversant 
with  the  public  accounts,  and  who  have  made  "  the  Treasury  system" 
a  part  of  their  study. 

As  otie  ot  the  people  having  some  ''nterest  at  stake  in  common 
with  others,  being  neither  a  wisher  nor  expectant  for  any  office,  and  ac< 
tuated  solely  by  a  desire  to  promote  the  general  welfare,  1  would  re- 
spectfully recommend  to  our  representatives  now  assembled,  to  ask 
from  the  tro.a.-ury  department  the  following  information  : 

1.  A  detailed  statement,  looking  backwards  for  at  least  four  years 
from  this  time,  shewing,   in  quarterly  exhibits,   the  amount  of  public 
money  standing  to  the  credit  of  the  Treasurer  of  the  United  States,  in 
the  books  of  the  several  banks  of  the  United  States,  where  the  public 
money  has  been  deposited. 

2.  A  similar  statement  shewing  the  amount  of  public  money  trans- 
ferred from  one  bank  to  another,  designating  the  banks;  the  time  when 
such  transfer  was  made,  aud  the  cause  for  making  it. 

3.  A  similar  statement,  shewing  in  what  banks  special  deposited  e»f 
the  public  money  were  made — the  times  when — and  wherefore. 

6 


4.  A  particular  statement,  shewing  the  precise  amount  of  the 
••  unavailable  fund?"  belonging  to  the  treasurr— ^shewing  also  the  banks 
or  places  where  these  funds  are,  and  how  and  when  they  «;ot  there. 

It  is  truly  a  matter  of  great  regret  to  me  to  be  constrained  to  make 
these  public  exposures;  and  that  regret  is  heightened  by  the  necwiti/ 
which  1  find  there. is  for  making;  them.  It  is  no  part  of  mv  dispos ^'oii 
or  my  nature,  wrongfully  to  charge  any  man  in  0'-  out  of  office.  And,  as 
I  have  heretofore  stated,  I  will  cheerfully  and  publicly  correct  any  er- 
ror into  which  I  may  have  fallen  in  the  course  of  these  strictures  on  men 
and  measures,  whenever  it  shall  be  fairly  pointed  out  to  me.  1  court 
and  challenge  public  investigation.  . 

In  the  beginning  of  these  essays,  1  promised  to  say  something  about 
the  "  linking  Fund."     In   regard  to  that  subject,  !  shall  endeav.i 
demonstrate  in  my  next  number,  that  the  public  faith  has  been  violated 
and  the  law  of  the  land  disregarded. 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


No.  XIX. 

Amidst  all  the  political  conflicts  which  have  taken  place  between 
the  different  parties  in  this  country,  since  the  adoption  of  the  present 
constitution,  there  has,  until  lately,  been  paid  a  most  scrupulous  regard 
to  the  preservation  of  the  national  faith,  as  regards*  the  payment  of  the 
public  debt,  and  the  application  of  the  iunds  specific:  liy  and  solemnly 
set  apart  for  that  object.  It  has  (as  will  hereafter  appear.)  been  re"- 
served  for  tjie  men  now  in  power  to  set  at  nauuht  the  in.}  ortant  at-d  wise 
provisions  of  the  law  inthss  respect ;  and  tl.us  tojajpclaini  by  their  ads. 
at  least,  that  "  a  public  debt  is  a  public  bussing." 

The  establishment  of  the  "sinking  fum."i-  nearly  co-oval  with  the 
existence  of  the  federal  government.     The  creation  of  such  a  fun*! 
a  two-fold  object  in  view  :  one  to  effect  4g  by  a'ljust  and  proper  mi-ans. 
the  desirable  end  of  reducing  the  amount  of  the  public  debt,"  and  the 
other  to  "be  beneficial  to  the^creditors  of  the  Vnited  States  by  raising 
the  price  of  their  stock" — thus  holding  out  a  pledge  to   the  pen; 
larjre.,  on  the  one  hand,  and  a  promise  to  the  public  fa,  on   the 

ether.     We  shall  presently  see  in   uhat  manner  this   pledge  and  this 
promise  have  been  and  are  proposed  to  be  fulfilled. 

The ''Sinking  Fund/'  as  it  is  called  i>  a  sum  of  money,  the  amount 
of  which  is  fixed  by  law,  set  apart  for  a  particular  and  specific  purpose  ; 
namely,  for  the  payment  of  the  interest,  and  the  reimbursement  of  the 
principal  of  the  public  debt.  For  the  management  of  this  fund,  the  law 
has  named  and  appointed  five  commissioners,  who  are  called  '•  com- 
missioners of  the  -sinking  fund,"  namely:  the  President  of  the  Senate, 
•ef  Justice  of  the  United  States,  the  Secretary  of  State,  the  Secre* 


43 

tary  of  the  Treasury,  ami  the  Attorney  General,  all  fur  the  time  being. 

acts  of  congress  of  12th  of  August,  1T)0,  and  8th  of  May,  17r2.] 
The  sinking  luml  was,  from  time  to  time,  increased  (never  diminished, 
a*,  the  present  Secretary  of  State  now  recommends)  until,  by  the  act 
of  29th  of  April,  I'- 02,  about  a  year  after  Mr.  Jefferson  came  into  power, 
it  was  fixed  at  7.^:fV»00  doHars  :  and  it  was,  not  long  afterwards, 
on  our  purchase  of  Louisiana  from  France,  increased  to  ei«rht  millions  of 
dollars  per  annum.  At  this  rate  it  stood  until  the  year  JM7,  when,  by 
the  act  of  the  ,^d  of  March,  of  that  year,  it  was  further  increased  to  the 
sum  often  millions  of  dollars  per  annum,  \vhich  is  the  present  amount 
of  the  linking  fund.  This  act  is  entitled,  "  An  act  to  provide  for  the 
redemption  of  the  public  debt;"  the  second  section  of  which  runs  in 
these  words  :  "  that  from  the  proceeds  of  the  duties  on  merchandize  im- 
ported, and  on  the  tonnage  of  vessel*,  and  from  the  proceeds  of  the  inter- 
nal duties,  and  from  the  sale  ot  western  lands  now  belonging,  or  which 
mny  hereafter  belong  to  the  United  States,  the  annual  «um  of  ten  mil- 
lions of  dollars  be,  and  the  same  is  yearly  appropriated  to  the  sinking 
fund  ;  and  the  said  sum  is  hereby  declared  to  be  vested  in  the  commis- 
sioners of  the  sinking  fund  in  the  sn me  manner  as  the  money  here- 
tofore appropriated  to  the  said  fund,  to  be  applied  by  the  said  commis- 
sioners to  thi>  payment  of  interest  and  charges,  and  to  the  reimburse- 
ment or  purchase,  of  the  principal  of  the  public  debt;  and  it  shall  be  the 
duty  of  the  secretary  of  the  treasury,  annually  to  pay  to  Hie  commission- 
ers "f  Ihif  sinifihgfund  the  send  siim  0^10,000,000  of  d  liars,  in  such  pay- 
ments and  at  such  times  in  each  year  as  the  situation  of  th  treasury  will 
best  admit."  This  law  remains  unrepealed.  By  it,  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  is  directed  to  pay  to  t!>e  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund, 
the  sum  ot  ten  millions  of  dollars  yearly*  for  the  purposes  above  named, 
out  ot  the  proceeds  of  duties  on  merchandize  imported,  and  on  the 
tonnaue  of  vessels,  from  the  proceeds  of  the  internal  duties,  and  from 
the  sale  of  western  lands  belonging  to  the  United  States."  The  money 
thus  set  apart  for  the  payment  of  t  ie  principal  and  interest  of  the  pub- 
lic debt  must,  in  conformity  with  the  provisions  of  the  law,  be  paid  in 
preference  to  any  other  monies  appropriated  for  any  other  object,  with 
the  exception  only,  perhaps,  of  the  old  reservation  of  600,000  dollars 
mentioned  in  the  law  of  the  4th  of  Au^u-t,  1790,  (vol.  1.  p.  14*.)  And 
this  will  appear  the  more  clear  by  recurring  to  all  the  acts  of  Congress 
passed  since  the  3d  Marc!:,  1817,  appropriating  public  money;  by 
which,  it  wili  be  seen  that  the  money  appropriated,  no  matter  for  what 

•  with  t!:-  .teption,  is  expressly  directed  to  be  paid  fi  out 

of  uuu  money  in  the  treasury  not  otherwise  appropriated."  Now,  is  it 
not  clear,  that  the  fund  set  apart  and  solemnly  pledged  for  the  redemp- 
tion of  the  public  debt,  has  been  seized  upon  in  violation  of  the  law, 
and  applied  to  other  objects  of  expenditure  r  It  is  no  answer  to  this  to 
say,  that  the  ten  millions  of  dollars  would  not  be  wanted,  because, 
ivanced  price  of  the  public  securities,  it  could  not  be 
applied.  S;>  long; :  as  the  law  rMaaius  in  force  (and  it  can-not  be  altered 
(li  the  public  creditors  without  a  palpable  vio- 
lation of  the  public  faith)  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is  bound 
!  be  so  much  in  the  treasury)  and  the  law  makes  it 
his  "  duty"  to  pay,  annually,  to  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking 
fund,  the  sum  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  for  the  purposes  abovemen- 


44 


tioned.     The  other  appropriations  are  directed   to  be  paid  "out  of  any 
urv  not  otherwise  aproriated."     I   will  take  occ-a- 


in  the  tre^urv  not  otherwise  approp 
sion  hereto  correct  a  mistake  M^debv  Mi.  Niles,  editor  of  the  We  "kiy 
Reo-istet-,  in  his  paper  of  the  22  .!  of  Dec.  At  the  dose  of  a  very  able  and 
comprehensive  article  on  the  state  of  the  treasury,  and  which  I  would  re- 
com  nend  to  the  attentive  perusal  of  every  man  in  th*»  country,  he  says, 
speaking  of  the  sinking;  fund  —  "Rut  in  1821  the  usual  appropriation  of 
5110,000.000  was  not  made,  and  of  course  there  was  no  surplus,  nor  does 
the  Secretary  calculate  on  such  an  appropriation  for  1'  22.  It  will  be 
seen,  ho  -ever,  by  reference  to  the  law  of  3d  March  1s  1  ",  above  mention- 
ed. that  the  appropriating  of  ten  millions  is  a  prospective  «  yearly"  ap- 
propriation ;  and  that  sum  must,  in  conformity  with  th*  ?:  press  pro- 
visions o('  the  law,  be  carried  to  the  account  of  public  debt  on  the 
public  books  each  and  every  year."  If  the  Register  had  said,  there  had 
been  no  estimate  made  by  the  -Secretary  of  the  Treasury  for  the  whole 
amount  of  the  ten  millions,  it  would  have  been  right.  The  reasons  for 
his  leaving  them  out  of  the  estimate  are  obvious  ;  but  they  need  not 
be  meatio'ied  just  now,  though  it  may  hereafter  be  useful  to  advert  to 
them.  What  I  contend  for  is  this,  that  neither  the  '•  estimates'*  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  nor  the  report  of  the  committee  of  wavs  and 
me.tns,  whether  bottomed  on  those  estimates  or  not  ;  nor  the  grants  of 
money  made  by  Congress,  founded  on  these  documents,  —  do  alter, 
ch.m^e  or  repeal  any  part  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  3*1  of  March 
1  1  "  ;  and,  consequently,  do  not  absolve  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
from  his  obligation  to  pay  to  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund 
yearly,  and  every  year,  the  ten  mi  o  s  of  doil  specially  pledged 
and  appropriated  "  for  the  redemption  of  the  nub!  c  tie  ••>  ."  And  he 
who  will  say  otherwise  is.  in  my  judgment,  prepared  to  sanction  a  prin- 
ciple destructive  of  the  best  interests  of  this  country,  —to  violate  the 
plighted  faith  of  the  nation.  It  can  be  no  answer  to  my  argument,  to 
say,  that  there  was  an  understanding  in  Congress,  or  by  the  Executive, 
that  hese  10,<  00000  were  not  to  be  used;  or,  if  you  please',  that  they  could 
not  be  used.  ]  say  they  are  appropriated  and  directed  to  be  paid  over  to 
the  commissioners  of  t  fie  sinking  fund.  The  source  from  which  lite 
money  is  to  come  is  particularly  designated;  the  law  remains  on  the 
statute  book  unrepeale't  —  and  he  whose  bounden  duty  it  is  ci  to  take 
care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed"  is  bound  to  see  that  it  is  put 
into  execution  !  if  Congress  choose  to  pa*s  a  iaw  "  impairing  the  obli- 
gation ol  a  contract,"  or  do  any  other  act  of  bad  faith  towards  a  public 
or  a  pricate  creditor  —  be  it  so.  L  am  not  here  disputing  about  the  powers 
of  that  august  and—  -1  had  almost  said  ominipotent  —  body,  as  regards  our 
national  concerns;  but  I  am  endeavouring  to  shew,  as  1  promised  to  do 
in  my  last  number,  that  »'  the  law  of  the  land  (as  it  now  stands)  has 
been  disregarded."  1  think  it  is  clear,  from  what  has  been  stated,  that 
the  appropriations  for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt,  have  a  prefer- 
ence or  priority  over  other  appropriations.  And  it  is  equally  clear,  that 
the  appropriations  made  for  that  object,  cannot  be  legally  applied  to  any 
other;  for  it  is  expressly  declared  in  the  act  of  Congress  ot  the  3d  of 
March  1»09  (vol.  9.  p.  252)  that  "sums  appropriated  by  law  for  each 
branch  of  expenditure  in  the  several  departments,  shall  be  solely  applied 
to  the  objects  for  which  the\  are  respectively  appropriated,  and  to  no 
other."  The  proviso  which  follows,  authorizing  the  .President  to  direct 


45 

a  transfer  of  appropriations,  in  certain  cases,  has  no  reference  whatso- 
ever, 'o  appropriations  made  on  account  of  of  the  public  u»bt;  and  .10 
one  nil,  I  presume,  as  vet,  have  the  hardihood  to  say  it  has  Nor  can 
anv  unexpended  amount  of  the  appropriation  for  the  redemption  of  the 
public  debt  be  carried  [as  some  persons  contended  it  would]  to  the  cre- 
dit of  the  account  denominated  the  *  surplus  fund;'  because  the  law- 
makes  express  provision  to  the  contrary.  [See  165  of  the  act  of  3d. 
Maivh  1  795,  vol.  3,  p.  20-4.] 

Butn'  may,  with  an  air  of  triumph,  be  asked,  «<  would  you  keep  se- 
veral millions  of  dollars  in  the  treasury,  unemployed,  which  the  com- 
missioners of  the  sinking  fund  cannot,  under  the  provisions  of  the  law, 
apply  to  iiic  extinction  of  the  public  debt?     What   more   do  you   want 
than  that  the  public  creditors  should  be  promptly  paid  all  that   they  can 
legally  demand  ?"     This  I  would  say,  was  something  like   begging  the 
question.     And  yet  these  are  the  only  reasons  which  I  have  ever  heard 
given  for  laving  violent  hands  on  the  sinking;  fund  ;  although  we  have  it 
from  high  authority,  no  less  than  the  secretary  of  the  treasury    himself, 
that,  in  a  recent  case,  some  of  the  puMic  creditors  had  exercised  great 
'•  forbearance."     In  fact  they  had  not  been  paid   according  to  promise  : 
but  they,  nevertheless,  "  by  hook  or  by  crook"  got  their  interest  at  Ue 
rate  of  si.r  per  cent  per  annum  up  to  the  time  the  last  '*  fragment"  of 
the  debt  was  paid. —  But  I  contend,  that  it  is  of  no  consequence   in  the 
present  discussion,  whether  the  whole  amount  of  the  sinking  fund  can, 
in  any  one  year,  be  used  or  not.     The  object  in  establishing  it,  as  I  have 
before  remarked,  was  two-fold — one  to  effect  €i  by  all  just  and    proper 
means  the  desirable  end  of  reducing  the  public  debt ;"  and  the  other  to 
"  be  beneficial  to  the  creditors  of  the  U.  States  by  raising  the  price  of 
their  stock  ;"  and  further  to  "  be  productive  of  considerable  savins;  to 
the  United  States."     See  act  of  12th  Aug,  1790,  vol.  1,  page  2(2.  That 
the  puijiic  creditors,  [as  well  as  the  community  at  large]  have  a  diiett 
interest  in  carrying  the  law  of  1817,  establishing  the  present  sinking 
fund,  into  full  effect,  as  regards  the  yearly  payment  of  ten   millions  of 
dollars  to  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund,  must  be,  to  every  un- 
clouded, candid  mind  most  clear  and  manifest.     It  will  be  admitted,  I 
presume,  on  all  sides,  that  the  demand  for  an  article  has  a  tendency  to 
enhance  its  price,  and  the  greater  the  number  of  persons  wanting  it,  the 
greater  the  demand  will  be.     All  subscribers  to   a  public  loan,   and  all 
tiie  subsequent  purchasers  of  stock  growing  out  of  i't,  pay  their   money 
under  a  linn  and  well  founded  belief,  that  the  government  is  in  good 
faith  bound  and  pledged,  to  carry  into  complete  effect  all  of  its  promis- 
es and  engagements  relatively  to  the   extinguishment  of  the   debt,  the 
evidences  of  Uvhicli  they,  respectively  held.     If  the  government  fail  to 
do  this,  it  commits  a  breach  of  the  contract.     It  matters   not,  on    the 
score  of  principle,  to  what  extent  this  breach   is  committed  ;  because 
when  one  part  of  the  contract  or  promise  is  violated,   the  same   power 
will,  if  necessity  urges,  violate  another  and  more  important  part ;  un- 
til, at  length,  to  use  the  language  of  the  justly  celebrated   Mr.    Hume, 
"  the  whole  fabric,  already  tottering,  falls  to  the  ground  and  buries  thou- 
sands in  its  ruins."     Such  is  the  delicate  nature  of  public  credit. 

Far  be  it  from  me,  however,  to  wish  to  excite  any  thing  like  a  dis- 
trust in  the  mind  of  any  one  either  as  to  the  ability  or  the  inclination  of 
tin  government  to  pay  its  just  debts.  But  that  the  legal  provision  to 
effect  this  object  has  remained  uuexerted  by  the  executive  branch ;  must?, 


46 

I  think,  be  apparent  to  all.  In  a  few  years  to  come  a  large  amount  <»r  the 
public  debt  will,  according  to  the  terms  of  the  respec-ivp  loans,  be  pay- 
able. There  will  probably  be  no  money  in  the  treasury,  as  every  body 
now  knows,  to  pay  it — although  the  appropriations  for  that  express  ; •Mr- 
pose  have  been  made;  but  these  have  been  seized  upon,  and,  unlawfully 
applied  to  other  objects.  To  obviate  this  difficulty,  and  to  satisfy  the 
law,  as  well  as  he  can,  the  secretary  of  the  treasury  proposes  to  t-av  the 
debt  becoming  due  by  contracting  another  to  an  equal  amount  Will 
not  the  holders  of  other  Stocks  of  the  United  States  have  a  just  n»-ht  to 
complain  of  this  r  Would  not  the  payment,  in  money,  of  th^  debt  fall- 
ing due*  and  thus  giving  full  scope  and  effect  to  the  operations  of  the 
sinking  fund,  enhance  the  value  of  the  remainirg  stock  on  hand,  by 
taking  out  of  the  market  a  large  amount  of  the  public  securities?  Each 
of  these  questions  may  be  safely  answered  in  the  affirmative.  By  giving 
full  operation  to  that  fund  we  should,  in  the  language  of  the  original  law 
establishing  it,  <(  effect  the  desirable  end  of  reducing  the  am-omt  of  the. 
public  debt;"'  while  it  would  also  "  be  beneficial  to  the  [other]  creditors 
of  the  United  States  by  raising  the  price  of  their  stock.'' 


A  Native  of  Virginia. 

55 


NO.  XX. 

In  my  last  communication  to  you,  T  endeavored  to  show,  and  I 
think  I  did  prove,  that  the  laws  which  had  been  passed  for  the  extin- 
guishment of  the  public  .debt,  and  solemnly  consecrated  to  that  object, 
had  been  disregarded  and  set  at  naught  by  those  whose  bounden  duty  it 
is,  <kto  take  care  that  they  are  faithfully  executed."  If  1  am  wrong  in 
saying  this,  let  the  contrary  be  shown.  I  will  yield  to  superior  argu- 
ment, and  to  reason  ;  but  it  is  no  answer  nor  argument  to  say,  that 
the  receipts  into  the  treasury  have  been  ins-tjjicient  to  pay  all  the  de- 
mands against  it.  I  contend,  that  the  specific  appropriation  often  mil- 
lions of  dollars,  for  the  purpose  of  paying  the  interest  and  reimbursing 
the  principal  of  the  public  debt,  has  a  priority  or  preference  over  oilier 
appropriations,  according  to  the  law,  as  it  now  stands  ;  and  that  it  was 
illegal  to  take  from  this  appropriation,  any  money,  for  the  purpose  of 
applying  it  to  other  objects  of  expenditure.  I  contend  further,  that  it 
is  not  competent  even  for  Congress,  without  committing  a  palpable  and 
violent  breach  of  the  national  faith,  to  direct  any  part  of  the  surplus  of 
the  sinking  fund  to  be  applied  to  other  objects/ unless  "  war  shall  oc- 
cur with  any  foreign  power."  Upon  this  contingency  atone,  they  may 
direct  any  surplus  of  the  sinking  fund  to  be  applied  to  other  objects  of 
the  public  service — [see  7th  §  of  the  act  of  3d  March  1 817,  establishing 
the  si)  king  fund,  which  is  in  these  words:  "Nothing  in  this  act  contained 
shall  be  construed  to  prevent  the  congress  ot  the  U.  States  if  war  shall  oc- 


47 

cur  with  any  foreign  poirer,  from  applying  to  any  object  of  public 
service,  a  v  s':ri>fus  <>f  the  amount  herein  appropriated  to  the  sinking 
fun  1,  which  m.iy  be  left  in  any  year,  after  paying  the  interest  and  prt/z- 
»•/••«'  >vhich  mi >(  be  actually  due  and  payable  by  the  U.  States  in  confor- 
mity with  tJteir  engagements  j  nor  shall  any  tiring  in  this  act  be  con- 
strue 1  to  rep*»'»l,  alter  or  affect  any  of  the  provisions  of  any  former  act, 
pledging  the  faith  of  the  U.  S.  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  or  princi- 
pal or  t',  •  nnbiic  debt;  but  all  such  payments  shall  continue  to  be  made 
at  the  time  heretofore  appointed  by  law,  excepting  only  as  before  provid- 
ed, that  no  payments  snail  be  made  on  certificates  which  have  become 
the  property  of  the  U.  States."]  Here,  then,  is  an  express  and  solemn 
pledge  made  by  Congress  to  the  nation  at  large  and  to  the  public  credi- 
tors, that  even  the  surplus  of  the  sinking  fund  shall  not  be  used  for  any 
other  purposes  than  those  for  which  it  is  pledged  and  appropriated,  ex- 
cepting only  in  the  event  of  a  war  taking  place  between  the  U.  States 
and  a  foreign  power.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  inform  you,  that  any 
surplus  of  the  sinking  fund  must  arise  either  from  the  circumstance  of 
the  public  securities  being  higher  in  price  than  the  •ommissi oners  of  the 
sinking  fund  are  authorised  to  purchase,  or,  where  there  is  no  stock 
which  can.  consistently  with  the  terms  of  the  loan,  or  with  the  provi- 
sions of  the  law  creating  it,  be  paid  or  redeemed..  The  commissioners 
of  the  sinking  fund  are  bound  by  law  to  apply  the  ten  millions  annual- 
ly appropriated,  1st,  to  the  payment  of  the  interest  and  principal  which 
mav  be  actually  due  and  payable  by  the  U.  States  in  conformity  with 
their  engagements;  and  2d,  to  the  purchase  of  the  debt  of  the  United 
States,  at  ti>e  prices  fixed  by  law.  The  excuse  which  has  been  given 
by  the  Executive  branch  of  the  government  ior  unlawfully  applying  the 
surplus  of  the  sinking  fund  toother  objects  of  the  public  service  is,  not 
that  «*  war  has  occurred  with  any  foreign  power,"  which  is  the  only 
possible  l'g:il  cause  which  can. exist  for  the  diversion  otthe  fund  from  its 
legitimate  object ;  but  for  reasons  like  those  set  forth  in  the  annual  re- 
port of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  on  the  state  of  the  finances,  dat- 
ed Dec.  10,  lv;!9.  lie  says  :  "  After  paying  the  interest  and  reirnburse- 
mcntof  the  public  debt,  and  redeeming  the  remainder  of  the  Louisana 
stock,  about  ii,300,0i,'0  dollars  of  the  sinking  hind  witl  remain  without 
price  of  the  public  stock  should  prevent  its  pur- 
chase." He  then  goes  on  further  to  state,  that  in  1821,  '22  and  '23,  the 
i!()  dollars  of  the  sinking  fund  will  also  remain 
Burtheradds  :  "Any  application  of  that  portion 

of  the  sinking  fund  which,  on  account  of  the  price  of  the  public  stock, 
may  remain  unemployed  in  the  hands  of  the  commissioners,  to  other 
bra"h<  expenditure,  if  allowable  under  the  act  making  the 

appropriation,  wqifld  o.iiy  postpone  the  period  at  which  additional  im- 
positions would  be  rer'.jired  to  meet  the  public  expenditure.  Such  an 
application  would  also  have  the  e'.frct  of  ultimately  retarding  the  re- 
dv-m;  .iebt."  Phis  is  ail  very  correct  as  regards  the 

power-  o1  of  the  administration,  to  misapply  the  money 

appropriated  and  pledged  for  the  redemption  of  the  public  debt.  But 
let  us  x.imine  that  part  of  the  report  which  relates  to  the  surplus  of  the 
sinking  'uiid,  and  which  we  are  told  will  remain  "  without  application" 
or,  in  ot  iei  v  >nls,  which  could  not,  under  the  provisions  of  the  law,  be 
applied  towards  the  extinguishment  of  the  public  debt. 


50 

had  it  in  keeping' — not  10  its  infancy — but  after  it  had  reached  maturi 
ty,  and  in  the  "full -tide  of  successful  experiment/'      Itisadead  letter 
on  the  statute  book.     Although  it  is  but  a  few  years  since  it  received 
an  accession   of  2,000,000  of  dollars  per  annum,  its  provisions  are  now 
totally  disregarded,  and  considered  as  obsolete,  except  when  it  may  be- 
come necessary  for   political  jugglers  to  refer  to  it.  for  the  pu  pose  of 
helping  them  out  in    some  miserable    scheme  of  finance,   to  keep  the 
wheels  of  government  in  motion — after  a  fashion. 

We  will  now  take  a  glance  at  the  report  of  the  committee  of  vv;iys 
and  means.  They  say,  "  If  the  proposed  exchange  of  Stock  shall  fake 
effect,  and  the  amount  of  ths  sinking  fund  be  continued  at  ten  millions 
of  dollars,  the  WHOLE  debt  of  the  United  States,  (the  3  per  cents,  excep- 
ted)  will  be  extinguished  in  the  year  1833,  except  only  the  sum  of  one 
million  nine  hundred  ana  fifty-two  thousand  dollars"  The  committee 
then  proceed  to  give  us  an  account  of  this  "  whole  debt  of  the  United 
States."  except  the  3  per  cent  Stock,  and  make  the  amount  lets  by 
nearly  17.000,000  dollars,  than  the  true  amount! — They  leave  out  of 
their  statement  the  following  sums : 

1.  Unredeemed  amount  of  deferred  stock  (round  num- 
bers)      -  -  -  g1, 700,000 

2.  Do.     do.     stock  of  1796,  now  payable      -         -  80,000 

3.  Loan  of  1820   (two  millions  of  which  are  now  pay- 
able)     -  ...  3,000,000 

4.  Loan  of  1821  -  5  000,000 

5.  Five  per  cent,  stock,  subscription  to   Bank   of  Uni- 
ted States        -  ...  7,000,000 


£16,780,000 

Say  sixteen  millions  seven  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  dollars.  Now 
J  will  ask,  what  reliance  ought  Congress  or  the  nation,  to  place  on  this 
report, — emanating  too,  as  1  find  itcloes,  from  the  treasury  departn.ent? 
The  committee  professed  to  give  us  an  account  of  the  whole  public 
debt  (the  3  per  cents,  excepted)  and  the  time  in  which  it  would  all  be  re- 
imbursed. The  chairman  of  the  committee  is,  I  am  told,  an  experienc- 
ed merchant  and  expert  accountant.— Can  it  be  possible  that  he  should 
accidentally  have  made  a  mis-take  of  such  magnitude.  1  apprehend  not. 
Besides,  the  documents  on  which  the  report  is  based,  came,  it  seems, 
from  the  treasury.  Again:  the  chairman  of  tins  committee  furthei  re- 
ports, that  in  1825,  5,350,000  dollars — and  in  1 120,  the  sum  of  5,707,000 
of  the  sinking  fund  will  be  'applicable'  in  these  years  to  redeeming  the 
principal  of  the  public  debt.  I  hope  the  honorable  chairman  of  the 
committee  will  be  called  upon  in  Congress  to  furnish  the  process  by 
which  he  arrives  at  these  results.  The  same  gentleman,  in  his  report  of 
April  1820,  told  Congress  that  in  1825  and  '26.  there  v,  ould  bo  a  sur- 
plus of  the  sinking  fund  "  applicable"  to  the  payment  of  the  j  • 
debt  falling  due  in  these  years,  of  upwards  of  twenty-one  millions  of 
dollars,  i  leave  these  glaring  inconsistencies  and  downright  incongrui- 
ties, to  be  reconciled  arid  explained  by  the  committee  of  wavs  and 
means  and  the  Secretary  of  the  treasury.  I  shall  not  enter  into  an  ex- 
amination of  their  schemes  of  finance ;  my  chief  object  in  addressing  he 
public  being  to  detect  error  and  expose  fraud  ;  but  this  much  I  will  ay 
—that  the  legislative  body  which  shall  adopt  their  plahs,  by  making 


51 

tliem  the  basis  of  its  measures,  w'ri  be  unworthy  of  the  confidence  and 
support  of   n  eniig'iuiiM.1  and  free  people. 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 

P.  S. — A  few  remarks  on  the  subject  of  public  defaulters  in  my  next; 
and  on  the  letter  of  the  3d  Auditor,  recently  published.  I  have  yet  a 
little  more  to  say  about  the  treasury  department — the  'unavailable' 
funds — and  the  District  Banks — all  of  which  shall  appear  in  due  season, 
let  who  will  be  offended.  The  truth  of  all  these  matters,  so  far  as  the 
public  is  interested,  ought  to  be  known,  and  shall  be  known,  as  for  as  I 
,hnve  knowledge  of  it. 


NO.  XXII. 

There  appears  to  be  great  exultation  among  certain  editors  of  news*- 
papers  of  the  court  party,  and  particularly  by  those  of  the  National 
Intelligencer,  because  the  debts  due  fr  m  individuals  to  the  U.  States 
for  more  than  three  years  prior  to  the  30th  September  last,  and  s*and- 
ing  on  the  books  of  the  third  auditor,  have  been  reduced  to  a  little  less 
than  sir  millions  of  dollars.  Every  well-wisher  to  his  country  ought  to 
feel,  and  no  doubt  will  feel,  gratified  at  this  event,  provided  that,  in  the 
settlement  of  the  accounts,  nothing  has  been  admitted  to  the  credit  of 
any  one  but  what  was  fair,  lawful  and  just — and  that  no  dispensing 
power  has  been  exercised  by  the  head  of  the  war  department  in  any  of 
these  cases.  If,  in  any  case,  any  such  power  has  been  exercised  by  the 
secretary  of  war,  it  was  an  act  or  usurpation  in  him  ;  for  the  law  gives 
him  no  authority  to  exercise  any  such  power.  Time  will  probably 
show  whether  it  has  been  exercised  or  not. 

No  one  ever  contended,  I  believe — I  certainly  never  did — that  the 
whole  amount  contained  in  the  third  auditor's  statement  of  last  year 
was  actually  due  from  individuals  to  the  public.  No  one  could,  in  the 
fare  of  the  abstract,  so  contend  ;  because,  in  some  instances,  the  con- 
trary was  therein  expressly  stated. — But  does  it  follow,  because  all  the 
money  r.harjred  on  these  books  was  not  due,  that  no  part  of  it  was  due? 
All  that  was  alleged  in  behalf  of  the  people  was,  that  vast  sums  of  money 

actually  due  to  the  public,  growing  out  of  the  immense  and  impro- 
vident advances  which  had  been  made  to  certain  individuals  closely 
connected  with  those  to  ichom  the  people  had  confided  the  care  of  the 
public  purse  :  that  these  favorites  of  the  administration,  instead  of  ap- 
plying the  money  "advanced"  to  them  to  public  use,  had  applied  it  to 
their  own  uses  and  purposes  ;  and  that  fhey  were  therefore  actual  delin- 
quents and  public  defaulters. — Now  who  is  there  that  will  openly  deny 
this.  The  National  Intelligencer  has,  to  be  sure,  more  than  once  insi)i- 
itati-d,  that  there  was  nothing  due  from  these  favorites,  and  that  the 


52 

whole,  of  the  third  auditor's  statement  exhibited,  |_I  will  use  the  editor's 
own  language]  "  exparte  and  unsettled  accounts."  This  was  the  only 
inference  which  could  be  drawn  from  their  remarks  on  the  subject,  and 
this  was  the  impression  intended  to  be  made  on  the  people.  Had  it  not 
been  for  gross  and  palpable  misrepresentations  like  this,  coming  as  they 
did,  from  a  quarter  which  every  body  looks  upon  as  official,  it  is  proba- 
ble these  numbers  never  would  have  met  the  public  eye.  The  studied 
and  close  concealment  of  the  Court  paper,  of  the  facts  relating  to  public 
defaulters,  was  of  itself  pretty  strong  evidence,  I  think,  that  every  thing 
\vas  not  right.  Acting  up  to  their  professions,  they  ought,  unquestion- 
ably, long  ago,  to  have  come  out  plainly,  and  honestly  told  the  people 
fhe  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  in  relation  to 
these  matters,  as  well  as  others  in  which  they  have  a  deep  interest.  But 
instead  of  acting  like  honest  sentinels  over  the  people's  rights,  the  court 
papers,  and  the  Intelligencer  at  the  head,  not  only  carefully  conceal  the 
facts,  as  far  as  they  can,  but  they  have  had  the  hardihood,  when  the  ad«« 
ministration  is  charged  with  these  abuses,  to  deny  their  existence  alto 
gether.  This  conduct  is  not  to  be  wondered  at.  if  one  could  bring  him- 
self to  suppose,  that  these  men  were,  "  in  some  shape  or  another,"  brib- 
ed to  keep  the  secrets  of  their  high  patrons  in  power.  In  the  different 
messages  of  our  present  Chief  Magistrate  to  Congress,  has  he  ever  once 
made  allusion  to  the  great  losses  which  the  United  States  would  be  like- 
ly to  sustain  by  the  defalcations  of  individuals  to  whom  the  public  mon- 
ey had  been  entrusted,  or  who  were  otherwise  public  delinquents  ?  Has 
he  ever  recommended  the  adoption  of  more  prompt  and  efficient  mea- 
sures for  the  recovery  of  the  public  dues !  Has  he  ever  told  the  nation 
of  the  villainous  conduct  of  public  debtors,  who,  to  avoid  payment  of 
their  just  debts,  have  made  fraudulent  and  collusive  assignments  and 
transfer  of  their  property.  But  has  he  not,  indeed,  after  a  perfect 
knowledge  of  their  delinquencies,  retained  them  in  office — thus  afford- 
ing them  the  power  and  the  means  of  committing  still  further  delapida- 
tioris  and  frauds  on  the  public  treasury  ?  Was  not  a  late  delinquency 
in  North  Carolina  of  a  Collector  of  the  Customs  known  to  the  govern- 
ment before  he  had  absconded  with  a  hundred  thousand  dollars  of  the 
public  money  in  his  pocket! — But  the  public  will  not  see  this  defaulter 
reported  to  Congress  probably  for  three  years  to  come.  And  there  are 
many  more  in  the  same  situation,  and  to  a  greater  amount,  rather  near- 
er to  the  President's  house.  Deny  this  who  dare,  and  the  proofs  shall 
be  exhibited.  And  yet,  notwithstanding  all  this,  and  a  great  deal  more, 
we  are  informed,  or  it  is  at  least  intimated,  that  there  are  no  balances 
actually  due  to  the  public,  but  that  the  lists  merely  exhibit  "  exparte 
and  unsettled  accounts." 

When  the  editors  of  the  Court  paper  at  Washington  lately  took 
occasion  to  tell  the  public  how  much  they  were  "  pleased"  that  the  ba- 
lances now  standing  on  the  books  of  the  third  auditor,  [and  which  had 
been  due  for  more  than  three  years  prior  to  the  30th  September  last] 
amounted  only  to  the  paltry  sum  of  five  millions  seven  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars.  1  think  candor,  and  a  clue  regard  to  their  promise,  [as 
set  forth  in  the  prospectus  of  their  paper]  to  give  correct  official  infor- 
mation, ought  to  have  induced  them  to  have  said  a  little  more  on  that 
subject.  They  ought,  I  think,  to  have  told  the  people,  [and  a  great 
many  would  have  thanked  them  for  the  information,  supposing,  as  they 
now  do,  that  the  third  auditor's  books  contain  accounts  of  all  the  debts 


53 

due  the  United  States]  that  there  are  a  great  many  public  defaulters, 
and  to  very  large  amounts,  whose  accounts  are  kept  on  the  books  ot 
the  secomf  auditor ;  that  there  are  others,  and  to  still  greater  amount, 
who  are  exhibited  on  the  hooks  of  the  fourth  auditor,  many  of  whom  are 
stated  to  be  delinquents  from  one  hundred,  to  upwards  of  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars  each — and  all  these  balances  due  "more  than  three 
years  prior  to  30th  September  last'1— that  there  were  immense  sums  of 
money  standing  to  the  debit  of  individuals  on  the  books  of  the  Register 
of  the  Treasury,  for  debts  due  to  the  Post  Office  Department,  for  ad- 
vances on  account  of  the  Civil  List,  the  Diplomatic  Department,  &c. 
for  defalcations  on  collecting  the  Customs,  the  Internal  Revenue  and 
Direct  Tax  ;  and  that,  besides  all  these,  there  were  enormously  large 
sums  due  from  United  States'  District  Attorneys,  from  Marshals,  and 
from  the  Clerks  of  the  Federal  Courts. — In  short,  these  gentlemen  edir 
tors  ought  to  have  told  the  people,  if  they  had  been  disposed  to  tell  the 
whole  truth,  about  this  matter,  that  the  public  money  remained  in  the 
hands  of  every  Shylock  and  improvident  knave  in  the  country,  from 
Maine  to  New  Orleans,  who  could  make  out  to  squeeze  his  snout  in  the 
Treasury  trough,  or  collect  it  from  the  people  in  the  shape  of  taxes. 
This  is,  in  sober  truth,  no  exaggerated  statement,  as  the  records  of  the 
country  will  fully  show.  And  yet  we  are  called  upon  to  otter  up  praises 
"to  the  powers  that  be,"  because,  forsooth,  there  are  only  about  six  mil- 
lions of  dollars  due  to  the  people  on  one  set  of  books. — I  still  adhere  to 
my  former  opinion,  that,  altogether,  there  is  due  to  the  United  States 
from  individuals,  about  the  sum  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars,  exclu- 
sively of  the  land  debt.  I  mean  justly  and  fairly  due — for  I  cannot 
tell  now  much  of  this  will  be  paid,  or  wiped  off,  by  the  illegal  exercise 
of  dispensing  powers.  And  all  these  evils,  and  a  great  many  more,  we 
endure  merely  from  the  want  of  a  plain,  honest,  straight-headed,  un- 
sophisticated man  to  preside  over  us,  who  would  pay  regard  to  his  oath 
of  office,  and  to  the  constitutional  injunction — '  To  take  oare  that  the 
hiu'B  are  faithfully  executed? 

In  my  next  number  I  propose  taking  some  notice  of  the  letter  of 
the  third  auditor,  which  accompanied  his  last  report  of  balances.  If 
the  remarks  which  I  shall  then  make  shall  ever  meet  his  eye,  he  will,  I 
think,  regret  that  he  ever  wrote  the  letter.  He  has  therein  betrayed  an 
ignorance  of  the  laws  and  the  legitimate  powers  of  the  public  depart- 
ments, that  could  hardly  have  been  expected. 

A  Native  of  Virginia* 


54 


NO.  XXIII. 

IN  the  letter  of  the  Third  Auditor  of  the  Treasury,  dated  the  26th 
December  last,  and  which  accompanied  the  abstract  of  balances  stand- 
ing on  his  books  for  more  than  three  years — the  following  remarkable 
paragraph  will  be  found.  "  If  provision  were  made  by  law  authorising 
the  accounting  officers  to  settle  accounts  originating  prior  to  the  1st  July 
1815,  upon  the  production  of  the  best  evidence  each  case  would  admit 
of,  and  such  as  would  probably  be  received  in  Courts  of  Justice,  and 
limiting  the  amount  of  credit  to  be  given  each  individual  to  the  amount 
of  money  advanced  him,  it  is  conceived  no  injury  to  the  public  would 
ensue  :  for  if  on  a  trial  of  a  suit,  it  shall  be  made  appear  by  a  defendant, 
to  the  satisfaction  of  the  Court  arid  Jury,  that  the  money  in  dispute  has 
been  expended  for  the  public  service?,  it  is  highly  probable  credits 
will  be  awarded,  notwithstanding  any  informalities  in  the  vouchers. 
And  the  adoption  of  the  course  suggested  would  have  the  effect  of  pre- 
venting many  personal  applications  to  Congress,  arid  of  considerably 
diminishing  the  outstanding  accounts  on  the  books  of  this  officer  " — Now 
at  first  view  all  this  looks  fair  &  reasonable  enough.  But  I  think  I  shall 
be  able  to  make  it  appear  to  the  satisfaction  of  every  reflecting  mind,  that 
there  is  something  more  intended  by  the  above  paragraph  than  fairly 
meets  the  eye.  I  do  humbly  hope  to  convince  every  man  whose  mind 
is  not  warped  by  interest  or  prejudice,  that  there  exists,  in  truth,  no  good 
reason  or  necessity  for  legislative  interference  in  this  case;  and  that 
should  it  take  place  in  the  way  which  has  been  suggested,  it  would  ope- 
rate as  an  indemnity  or  act  of  oblivion  towards  most,  if  not  all  the  par- 
ties concerned  :  and  therefore  would,  most  certainly,  as  the  third  audi- 
tor predicts,  have  the  effect  of  considerably  diminishing  the  outstanding 
accounts  on  the  books  of  his  office." 

The  third  auditor  certainly  does  know  (no  one,  I  should  suppose, 
knew  better)  that  the  laws  of  tl  e  United  States  do  not  prescribe  (ex- 
cept in  a  few  particular  cases,  not  worth  mentioning)  the  form  or  even 
the  kind  of  voucher  which  shall  be  produced  to  authorize  a  credit  for 
money  expended  under  the  military  appropriations.  The  evidence  of 
expenditures  of  this  kind,  and  the  particular  form  in  which  that  evidence 
shall  be  exhibited,  have  been  prescribed,  not  by  acts  of  the  legislature, 
but  by  departmental  rfgutatwns.  Congress,  in  establishing  the  different 
departments  of  government,  provided,  generally,  for  the  settlement  of 
the  accounts,  and  the  production  and  preservation  of  the  vouchers— 
without  entering  into  a  detail  (a  thing  impracticable  to  be  done  from  its 
nature)  of  the  particular  forms  and  kinds  of  proofs  of  the  disbursements 
of  the  public  money.  It.  was  confided  to  the  executive  branch,  and, 
principally  to  those  acting  ministerially,  to  do  this.  It  this  be  the  case, 
and  no  one  will  I  imagine  publicly  deny  that  it  is — where,  it  may  be  ask- 
ed, is  the  necessity,  in  any  case,  of  passing  a  la\\ ,  (m;4ny  such  have  been 
passed  of  late)  directing  the  proper  accounting  officers  to  settle  an  ac- 
count, *'  on  the  principles  of  equity  and  justice"  and  without  stating 
what  charges  against  the  public  shall  be  admitted  or  what  shall  not  be 
admitted?  I  answer — there  can  be  no  necessity  for  such  an  act ;  be 


55 


cause  it  confers  no  power  on  the  department  which  did  not  before 

a  law  leaves  th  cit-  v  precisely  where  it  was  before  the  law  passed. 
it  ias,  however,  t(>  s'*y  the  least  of  it,  a  very  odd  and  singular  apnear- 
anre  on  the  statute  bo?»k  —  because,  by  necessary  inference,  it  pre^ 
siiM'-o-es  t!  at  the  previous  acts  of  Congress  for  the  adjustment  of  ac- 
cou'nis  against  the  United  States,  did  not  authorise  them  to  be  settled 
in  conformity  to  the  principles  «•  of  equity  and  justice;"  and  thus,  in 
elect,  as  it  would  seem,  pronounces  a  severe  censure  on  the  permanent 
laws  of  the  land. 

T;  e  first  special  interposition  of  Congress,  in  a.  case  of  this  kind  — 
though  there  may  be  some  other  of  a  prior  date  —  was,  I  think,  in  the 
year  180G  —  7,  about  the  time  of  the  beginning  of  mis-rule  and  extrava- 

fance.     It   was    the  case   of  William  Eaton,  a   Consul  of  the  United 
tates  at  Tripoli,  and  afterwards  better  know  by  the  name  of  General 
Eaton,  the  hero  of  Derne.     It  was  found,  (as  I    have  it   from   the  very 
best  authority,  —  and   the  treasury   books    car.  be   referred   to  for  the 
proof*)  after  this  gentleman's  return  from  his  Barbary  mission,  in  1804, 
.that  hr  owed  the  public  a  large  sum  of  money.     And  this  sum  appeared 
a»;ain>t  him  after  what  was  then  supposed  to  be  a  final  settlement,  made, 
I  as  I  trust,  for  the  honor  of  the  country,  all  the  public  accounts  are]   on 
wi;al  was  then  conceived  to  be,  "  the  principles  of  equity  and  justice." 
This  settlement  was  made  too  under  the  sanction  and   "direction"  of 
the  Secretary  of  {State,  under  whose  sanction  and   "direction"    all  set- 
tlements of  accounts,  relating  to  our  foreign  intercourse,  are  made.     It 
is  true.  Mi-.  Katon  made  many  charges  in  his  account,  which  Mr.  Madi- 
son, then  Secretary  of  -State,  [probably  by  the  advice  of  President  Jef- 
ferson] would  not  admit.     A  heavy  one,   for  example,  was  not  allowed, 
if  my  informant's  memory    be    correct  —  namely,  for  the  gallant  act  of 
*•  ransoming  a  Sardinian  nobleman's  daughter"    in  whose   unfortunate 
case  our  consul  had  taken,  as  it  would  seem,  a  deep  interest.     Our  rulers 
in  tliose  days,  however,   [1804,]  did   not  think  this  expense  ought  to  be 
saddled  upon  the  good  people  of  the  United  States  and  accordingly  it 
was   with    many  others,   then  deemed   equally   inadmissable,  rejected. 
So  the   matter  rested   until   about   the  time  Burr's  fpmous  conspiracy 
wa>  ripening  to  a  head.     Meanwhile    Mr.  Eaton  was  petitioning  Con- 
gress for  relief.     It  is  certain,    however,   that  no  4<  relief"    was  grant- 
ed    until   ,f.'<-r  he    had    msule    his    noted    deposition    at    the  capitol 
against  iiurr,  and  on  which,   i   think,  some    other  persons  of  distinc- 
tion were  arrested.       Then    it   was,  by  some  contrivance  or  another, 
I  will  not  rviy  v\  hat.  v\m»;ress  of  the  United  States  were  induced 

?ke  this  -lioil  act.  "  That  the  accounting  officers  of  the  Treasury 
be,  iiiid  t''i-\  are  hereby  authorised  to  settle  and  adj-ist  the  accounts 
ot  iVilliam  Eaton,  late  I  orisul  at  Tripoli,  UP^N  JUST  AND  EQUIT- 


This act  left  l^aton'prev  i.^ely  in  the    bume   situation  in  which  it  found 

him.     Lt  iii.    not   JM-  t!.*-   accounting    oillcers  of  the  treasury  nor  the 

particle  more  power  than  they  before  possessed 

and  iunl  bee.,  constantly  in  the  habit  of  exercising.  /  nd  yet,  strange 
and  unaccountable  as  it  ma  appear,  the  accounts  of  Katon  were,  by 
vi'l  ,  ,»!'  thi'.  :ict,  •  i  !,,<*  <il  .ne,  re-adji^te»i  ;  and  not  only  the  balance 
re  )orte<l  agaiiiSt  iiim,  BY  THE  SAME  PERSONS  AND  UNDII.K  ui",  SAME 
AUTHORITY,  was  wiped  o.ti';  but  an.  actual  oalance  was  reported  in  his 


56 

fovor,  of  about  12,000  dollars,  which  he  received  from  the  Treasury  of' 
the  United  States  !  So  much  for  the  operation  of  a  harmless  inofFetisive 
law,  as  this  was  called,  and  to  which  many  an  honest  member  of  Con- 
gress would  not  withhold  his  assent,  because  the  real  use  and  purposes 
for  which  it  was  obtained  by  the  master  spirits,  would  never  enter  into 
his  imagination.  By  tricks  and  contrivances  like  this,  the  purse-proud 
public  defaulter  is  enabled  to  ride  rough -shod  over  the  productive  classes 
whom  he  has  gulled  and  cheated  out  of  their  money — for  these  are  the 
persons,  at  last,  who  pay  it  for  the  use  of  the  Treasury. 

Since  this  act  was  passed  for  the  «*  relief  fas  it  is  called)  of 
William  Eaton"  the  statute  books  have  been  filled  with  similar  ones 
— to  the  great  and  manifest  injustice  |_I  hazard  nothing  in  saying  it.] 
of  the  people  of  the  United  States.  But  what  has  heretofore  been 
dona  by  piece-meal,  the  Third  Auditor  now  proposes,  in  effect,  to 
have  done  by  wholesale — in  other  words,  by  a  single  sweep  to  ex- 
tinguish a  debt  due  to  the  public  of  about  seven  millions  !  And  where- 
fore ? — When  I  see  the  names  of  the  defaulters,  I  will  be  better 
able  to  tell  you.  But  there  is  another  reason.  It  may,  perhaps  have  a 
tendency  to  render  the  Secretary  of  war,  "or  the  administration,  unpopu- 
lar to  have  such  a  large  amount  of  the  people's  money  yearly  exhibited  to 
be  in  the  hands  of  contractors  and  others  who  have  no  just  right  to  it. 
Let  Congress  pass  such  a  law  as  is  requested,  and  then  two  years  after- 
wards, let  an  honest  unprejudiced  committee  of  investigation  be  ap- 
pointed to  examine  and  see  how  it  has  been  executed— then  the  whole 
secret  of  the  matter  will  appear— not  that  J  believe  the  Third  Auditor 
would  of  hit  own  accord,  and  upon  his  own  responsibility,  act  improper- 
ly in  any  of  these  cases :  but  we  do  know,  that  the  power  over  a  man's 
support  is,  generally,  a  power  over  his  will;  and  it  is  also  known,  and 
can  be  proved,  that  DISPENSING  powers,  to  a  considerable  and  alarming, 
extent,  have  been  exercised  by  the  heads  of  our  public  departments,  in 
cases  where  the  law  confers  no  such  prerogative.  But  after  all,  can  any 
one  for  a  moment  suppose,  that  on  the  production  of  such  a  voucher, 
for  the  disbursement  of  public  money,  "as  would  probably  be  received 
in  a  court  of  justice ;"  the  public  departments  would  not  feel  them- 
selves at  liberty,  under  existing  laws,  to  admit  the  same  as  evidence  of 
the  expenditure  of  the  money  ?  To  say  that  they  would  not,  would  be 
to  claim  for  these  functionaries  more  purity,  greater  circumspection, 
more  regard  tojustice  and  the  public  interest  than  belong  to  out  courts 
of  law — even  to  those  of  the  last  resort,  where  every  litigated  case,  if 
it  will  admit  of  it,  in  which  the  public  is  concerned,  ought  to  be  carried. 

The  whole  secret   of  this  matter,  however,  lies   here. — In  befter 

days  than  those  in  which  we  live — when  the  Father  of  his  country  ruled, 
and  had  a  share  in  the  direction  of  its  destinies — when  that  great  man 
was  President  of  the  United  States,  [and  he  was,  strictly  speaking,  the 
only  president  of  the  people  we  ever  had — each  of  his  successors  being 
president  of  a  party] — when  that  just  and  virtuous  man,  I  say,  of  un- 
tarnished fame  and  reputation  presided  as  chief  magistrate  of  this  coun- 
try, and  under  whose  auspices  and  direction  the  administration  of  our 
public  affairs  was  conducted — certain  "  RULES  AND  REGULATIONS," 
touching  the  settlement  and  adjustment  of  all  accounts  for  the  expendi- 
ture of  public  money  authorised  bylaw,  were  laid  down  and  established. 
It  is  these  rules  and  these  regulations  which,  in  these  our  days,  some 
people  have  found  it  not  quite  convenient  to  conform  to — and  hence  re- 


57 


has  been  had  to  Congress  for  the  passage  of  laws  authorising  ac- 
its  to  be  settled  "  on  just  and  equirable  principles  !"     Under  cover  of 


sort 
counts 

such  laws,  the  good  old  rules  are  laid  sside,  or  transgressed;  for  even  yet, 
no  man  in  power  ha*  the  hardihood  altogether  to  disregard  them  without 
some  legislative  act — (however  unfair  the  use  which  may  he  made  of  it) 
to  screen  him  from  public  reprehension.  If  this  exposition,  which  I 
have  endeavored  to  make  plain  and  simple,  shall  happen  to  meet  the  eye 
of  any  one  of  your  representatives  in  Congress  now  assembled,  I  hope 
it  m;iv  have  the  effect  of  causing  some  investigation  into  the  subject  at 
least,  before  the  suggestions  contained  in  the  Third  Auditor's  letter, 
before  mentioned,  shall  have  been  acquiesced  in  or  adopted. 

That  there  may  be  some  individual  cases  of  hardship,  requiring  le- 
gislative interposition,  I  do  not  doubt.  But  before  any  act  for  the  pur- 
pose of  affording  relief  is  passed,  Congress  ought  faithfully  to  investigate 
the  claim  and  give  such  specific  relief  as  the  nature  of  the  case  may,  in 
justice  require. — The  people  ouyjht  always  to  view  v/ith  a  suspicious  eye 
that  department,  or  that  man*  (particularly  if  he  has  any  thing  to  do 
with  wielding  the  sword)  who  will  advise  Congress  to  part  from  pow- 
ers which  properly  belong  to  them,  and  delegate  them  to  one  who  is 
4i  willing  to  incur  great  responsibility." 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 

*  The  3d  Auditor  is  not  here  alluded  to.     He  acts  under  authority 
of  others* 


NO.  XXIV. 

If  the  facts  and  the  reasoning  contained  in  my  lasr  communication 
do  not  convince  you  of  the  injurious  effects  on  the  publi'  intere>^  by 
the  passage  of  laws  authorising  accounts  between  the  United  States  and 
mdividuafsto  be  settled  "  on  just  and  eqnitahle  principles." — I  nill 
now  proceed  t.o  state  to  you  another  case  of  this  kind,  transcending,  per- 
haps, in  enormity,  any  other  upon  record.  [  mean  solar  as  concerns 
the  condu'  t  of  the  officer  who  h<;ii  to  decide  finally  upon  the  account. 

The  c.  s  •  to  which  I  allude,  is  that  of  John  H.  Fiatt.  contractor  I.  r 
supplying  the  army  with  provisions.  In  the  list  of  balances  transmitted 
by  tli'e  third  auditor  of  the  treasury,  for  the  year  K21,  this  person  is 
stated  to  be  indebted  to  the  U.  States,  on  settlement,  in  the  sum  of 
48,230  dollars  77  cents,  and  the  auditor  further  states,  that  "an  addi- 
tional sum  of  12,855  dollars  17  cents  is  chargeable  to  his  account" — so 
that  the  whole  balance  against  him  amounted  to  (i  1,085  dollars  94  cents 
— to  which  is  subjoined  the  following  remark  : — "  credits-  have  been  al- 
lowed by  the  second  comptroller,  under  the  act  passed  lor  his  relief,  ex- 
hibiting a  balance  in  his  favor,  which  will  be  entered  when  the  balanee 

8 


58 

is  paid"  The  singularity  of  these  remarks  induced  roe  to  recur  lo  the 
law  passed  "  for  the  relief"  of  Mr.  Piatt,  which,  I  find,  is  dated  the 
8th  May  1820.  It  is  in  these  words  :  '*  That  the  accounting  officers  of 
the  treasury  department  be,  and  they  are  hereby  authorised  and  requi- 
red, to  settle  the  accounts  of  John  H.  Piatt,  including  his  accounts  for 
transportation,  on  just  and  equitable  principles,  [here  it  is  again]  giving 
all  due  weight  and  consideration  to  the  settlement  and  allowances  al- 
ready made,  and  to  the  assurances  and  decisions  of  the  war  depart- 
ment— [who  ever  before  heard  of  legislation  like  this?]  Provided,  that 
the  SM.WI  allowed  under  the  said  assurances,  shall  not  exceed  the  amount 
noiv  claimed  by  the  U.  States,  and  for  which  suits  have  been  commenc- 
ed against  the  .said  John  II  Piatt.*?  Thus  it  appears,  that  after  a  final 
settlement  of  Mr.  Piatt's  accounts  had  been  made,  [and  no  disinterest- 
ed man  will,  now-a-days,  suspect  our  public  departments  for  allowing 
an  individual  less  than  he  is  justly  entitled  to]  after  a  balance  of  more 
than  sixty  thousand  dollars  had  been  reported  against  him  :  and  after 
suit  had  been  instituted  for  the  recovery  back  of  the  public  money  which 
it  was  alleged  he  had  wrongfully  withheld, — the  Congress  of  the  United 
States  were  induced,  from  some  cause  or  another,  in  the  year  1 820,  many 
years  after  the  defalcation  had  taken  place,  to  pass  the  act  for  his  relief 
which  1  have  just  stated  !  It  is  not  my  intention,  however,  to  discuss 
the  merits  of 'Mr.  Piatt's  claim:  but  simp!}  to  state  some  facts  in  rela- 
tion to  it,  which  may  enable  you  to  judge  of  the  manner  in  which  your 
public  aftaiis  are  COM  uc  t!  at  the  scat  ot  government.  These  "assu- 
rances from  the  war  t;e;,,.rtment,"  referred  to  in  the  law,  1  understand 
to  have  been  made  b>  Mr.  Monroe,  when  acting  as  secretary  of  war.* 
They  are  said  to  have  been  some  private  verbal  •'  assurances,"  the  ex- 
act nature  and  extent  of  which  are,  1  believe,  entirely  unknown  to 
every  body  excepting  only  to  the  "high  contracting  parties"  themselves. 
Be  that  matter,  however,  "as  it  may,  1  will  do  the  third  auditor  of  the 
treasury  the  justice  to  say, — that  in  the  re-statement  of  Mr.  Piatt's  ac- 
count, he.  did  not  act  directly  in  the  teeth  of  the  law.  which  expressly 
forbade  the  allowance  of  any  sum.  under  these  assurances,  which  would 
"exceed  the  amount  claimed  by  the  V.  States,  and  for  \xhicli  suits  have 
been  commenced  against  the  said  John  H.  Piatt.''  Mot  so,  however, 
\viththesecondcomptroller.  He,  as  it  would  seem,  re  <>f  the 

law  and  of  his  duty  to  the  public, — not  only  struck  off  the  whole  of  the 
U.  States'  claim  against  Piatt,  but,  reversing  the  decision  of  the  third 
auditor,  awards  to  the  claimant  a  large  sum  of  money,  to  be  paid  to 
him  out  ot  the  public  treasury  !!  This  daring  and  illegal  decision  of 
the  second  comptroller  excited,  I  understand,  some  wonder  and  sur- 
prise even  among  those  who  had  not  themselves  paid  the  most  scrupu- 
lous regard  to  your  interests  in  the  disbursement  of  your  money  : — 
hence,  the  balance  reported  in  favor  of  Piatt  was  not  paid  for  \\ant,  as 
*  This  distinguished  personage  formerly  acted  in  various  charac- 
ters and  capacities.  He  once  acted,  it  is  said,  on  a  memorable  occa- 
sion, as  commander  in  chief  of  our  army,  at  the  same  time  that  he  held 
no  other  commission  than  that  of  secretary  of  state.  As  the  result  of 
the  affair  was  such,  as  that  no  one  concerned  in  it  (on  our  side,  at  least) 
could  obtain  credit  or  gain  laurels,  it  is  supposed  that  the  high  person- 
age in  question  does  not  wish  to  be  considered  as  having  had  any  imme- 
diate agency  in  the  matter.  Ji-ut  history,  no  doubt;  will  do  him  justice 
in  this  as  well  as  in  some  other  things. 


59 

it  is  said,  of  an  appropriation.  And  so  the  matter  probably  yet  rests. 
But  this  want  of  a  proper  appropriation  out  of  which  to  pay  the  money, 
did  not,  it  seems  prevent  Mr.  Piatt  from  at  once  profiting  bv  the  munifi- 
cence of  his  friend  and  benefactor,  the  second  comptroller.  Mr.  Cutts: 
— for,  finding  that  the  money  was  not  to  be  had.  for  the  reason  just  stat- 
ed, Mr.  C.jjives  to  his  friend  a  certificate,  as  I  understand  ana  believe, 
setting  forth  the  sum  of  money  which  he  found  to  be  due  to  Piatt  on  the 
final  settlement  of  his  accounts. 

This  certificate,  this  jrood  evidence  of  debt,  as  it  was  called,  was 
traded  or  assigned  to  certain  merchants  in  the  purchase  of  j^oods.  Whe- 
ther it  was  received  at  its  nominal  or  par  value,  lam  notable  to  say; 
but!  hazard  nothing  in  saying  that  Congress  will  be  called  upon  [if they 
have  not  been  already]  for  payment  of  both  principal  and  interest  of 
this  alleged  public  debt.  They  will  no  doubt  be  told  [and  perhaps  just- 
ly too.  if  there  was  no  collusion  in  the  transaction,]  that  the  faith  of 
the  nation  is  actually  pledged  to  pay  to  the  present  holders  of  the  evi- 
dence of  this  debt  the  full  amount  of  it,  together  with  the  interest  on 
it  which  has  accrued. 

Now,  fellow  citi/.ens,  let  us  stop  here — and  pause  for  a  few  min- 
utes, to  see  how  this  matter  stands.  Here  is  a  man,  to  whom  is  con- 
fided a  most  important  public  trust.  He  is  placed  as  one  of  the  senti- 
nels at  the  door  of  the  public  t:easury.  He  is  vested  by  law  with  the 
important  pov-r  of  deciding,  in  the  last  resort,  upon  claims  against  the 
public  to  the  amo'int  of  millions  of  dollars.  He  has  shamefully,  as  I 
say,  and  as  e\<. y  honest  man  must  say,  violated  the  plain  letter  and 
spirit  of  the  law,  under  which  he  acted. 

He  has  given  a  certificate  of  a  debt  being  due  from  the  public, 
which  he  knew  did  not  legally  exist.  And  what  then?  Has  the  Pre- 
sident dismissed  him  from  office  ?  No.  Has  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives preferred  articles  of  impeachment  against  him?  No — for  the  mem- 
bers, perhaps,  as  a  legislative  body,  know  nothing  of 'the  matter.  And 
what  then?  Why — the  second  comptroller  of  the  treasury  remains  in 
the  full  enjoyment  of  all  the  benefits  «wl  emoluments  pertaining  to  his 

.  without  HI  much  us  having  been  called  to  account  ft r  this  flagi- 
tious conduct,  irl.icli  took  place  directly  in  the  view  of  him  whose  duty 
it  is,  **  care  that  the  laws  are  faithfully  executed'''  Further 

comment  or  remark  on  such  a  transaction  cannot  be  necessary.  The 
case  i.s  now  before,  the  nation;  and  we  shall  see  whether  your  represen- 
tatives will  do  their  dutv. 

A  Native  of  Virginia. 


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